Gizmodo Australia » public transport

The Wheels On The Broadband Bus Offer Wi-Fi

Nick Broughall — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 06:43:21 +0000

I never, ever thought I’d say this, but I want to move to Adelaide. Not for any practical reason, but for the free Wi-Fi on the Broadband Bus.

Launching today as part of a six month trial, the bus was developed and funded by a whole raft of tech companies, including MIMP Connecting Solutions (whose MD Allan Aitchison is pictured), transSpot, Cisco, Adam Internet, Podmo Mobile and Webshield Content Filtering.

Inside the bus there are two LCD screens which relay relevant information like ETA for the next stop, community news, national news from the ABC and some advertising. The ads can even be location based, showing ads relevant to stores at particular bus stops.

Adam Internet is supplying a free Wi-Fi connection to passengers, and there’s Bluetooth offering free games to commuters as well.

The bus itself cost about half a million dollars to create. And I really want one.

Anyone in Adelaide take a ride on it today? Impressions?

Beijing Man Shows Why Certain iPhone Games Shouldn’t be Played on the Subway

Elaine Chow — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 09:00:00 +0000

Some Beijing man had to learn the hard way that Flick Bowling on the iPhone is probably not the best game to play in public… especially inside public transport. Yowch, expensive lesson. [Youku Buzz]

Bus Stop Swing Set: A Public Transportation Playground

Sean Fallon — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:00:00 +0000

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]

NYC Makes Buses Hijack Proof With Remote Controlled Device

Sean Fallon — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:15:00 +0000

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.

The GPS device is attached to the bus computer system and it relays information about its speed and direction to a dispatcher. In the event of a hijacking, the dispatcher can remotely slow the bus down and prevent it from being restarted–giving cops enough time to get to the scene. Apparently, slowing the bus down gradually is intended to give terrorists extra time to rethink their position before doing something drastic.

Financing for the system has been made possible thanks to funding from the Department of Homeland Security. So far, the device is on 3000 Grey Line double-decker buses, 80 DeCamp buses and plans are currently underway to equip 3000 New Jersey Transit buses. NYC transit is currently in the pilot stage for the program, but they are expected to follow suit with their 4500 bus fleet sometime in the near future. [New York Post]

Transportation Bill Gives US$45 Million To Maglev Project, Sets It Up For Fail

Gizmodo US Edition — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 16:00:00 +0000

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?

Maglev trains are hella expensive. Sure, the $45 million is only supposed to pay for “environmental studies” in the first phase of the project, but the government can probably expect to spend a hundred times that amount before this thing is over.

Japan’s Linimo maglev train, located near Nagoya, cost a cool US$380 million to build and it’s only 9 kms long. China’s Shanghai Maglev Train, finished in 2004 in a country where labour’s cheap and private land ownership is a pretty new concept, cost US$1.3 billion for 30 kms of track–roughly US$43 million per kilometre. What will US$45 million buy in the States? 3 metres?

I love the concept of mass transit and one of my biggest gripes with the U.S. is how they let their train infrastructure shrivel and rot, but the paltry amount dedicated to such a pricey technology makes me wonder if this isn’t just another attempt for Bush to greenwash his last few months in office. [Slashdot]

P.S. The picture is of the Shanghai Maglev Train, which has been criticised by locals for being showy, wasteful and impractical.

Google Maps For Mobile 2.2 Saves Gas With Bus and Train Directions

Sean Fallon — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:20:00 +0000

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.

[Google Mobile]

Google Transit Comes to Australia

Nathan Taylor — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:24:35 +0000

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.