The idea of making public spaces more playful is the brainchild of artist Bruno Taylor. In this project, he modified several London bus stops with swings to brighten the day of busy commuters. Never mind the smell, the noise, or that dude rubbing up against you--a swing set at the bus stop would melt away all of the stress associated with public transportation. That is until you get a little too carried away with the swinging motion and knock out someone walking behind the bus stop with your arse. On the playground that's detention--in the adult world it's called assault. Haha...(ass)ault. [Pixelsumo via PSFK via Dvice]

Read More »

Let's say someone put a bomb on your bus and it can't go below 75 kph or it will explode. If that were to happen on a NYC bus you would probably be incinerated because the city has installed a new GPS device in thousands of local commuter and tourist buses. If the authorities get wind of a hijacking in progress, they can slowly stop the vehicle and prevent it from restarting via remote control. It may not work for "Speed" style situations, but for conventional hijackings, it could prove to be an effective weapon.

Read More »

A new transportation bill signed by Bush on Friday would free up US$45 million to build the U.S.'s first maglev train. The train will travel between Disneyland and Las Vegas at up to 480 kph and is meant to help ease traffic on the 400+ kilometre ride on Interstate 15. While I'm all for high-speed trains and efficient public transportation, isn't the Bush administration forgetting something?

Read More »

The new version of Google Maps for Mobile (2.2) is offering public transportation directions "in all of the same places as the web version of Google Maps, including Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Vancouver, and over 40 other cities in North America." Users will also be able to easily browse through all scheduled trips and get information on the last transit trips for the day. Throw that in with the "My Location" feature, and you have yourself a useful tool in the fight against high gas prices.

Read More »

It seems like a small thing to bring the CEO of Google out for, but nonetheless Google chief Eric Schmidt was on hand today to announce that Google Transit was coming to an Australian city near you. It's starting with Perth, with plans to add other Australian cities in the future.

Transit is a feature of Google Maps that helps you to plan a trip using public transport options. You enter your start address, end address and departure or arrival time, and Google will tell you how to make it happen with public transport. Of course, Google isn't the only company offering such a service. For example, Sydney's CityRail and State Transit Authority has a trip planner that can be found here. Melbourne has something similar here.