Buy us electric buses

"... or give Calgary Transit a carbon tax break: Nenshi"
("Mayor says it makes no sense to speed up city’s bus conversion process to make up for the brunt of the NDP carbon tax")
http://www.metronews.ca/news/calgar...eeds-ndp-reprieve-from-carbon-tax-nenshi.html

He said there’s four options for the city if the NDP continue with their “taxing of another order of government.” The city can cut service hours, increase fares, hand out electric bicycles, or replace all of its fossil-fuel buses with electric numbers.

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That's what I've been saying!! Induction bus lanes and electric buses are popping up all over and here in Kitchener-Waterloo ("The silicon valley of Canada") we just spend two years dropping infrastructure and budget on a light rail system

Induction charging is the way to go. Calgary cant do "only bus lane", very few (if any) HOV lanes are here, I cant recall any off hand right now. Calgary is extending their rail transit into another leg right up centre street north. I have not paid close attention to any of it. But we do have double length buses and longer lengths between stops on some routes.

LRT to the airport "Only if Olympics come again"
http://www.calgarysun.com/2016/12/13/olympic-bid-could-lead-to-airport-lrt

Green Line - Adds a third leg to the train system
http://www.calgary.ca/Transportation/TI/Pages/Transit-projects/Green-line/vision.aspx

On Saturday, December 3, 2016, the Government of Canada and the Province of Alberta announced funding that will bring The City of Calgary one step closer to beginning construction of the new Green Line LRT.

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http://www.calgary.ca/Transportation/TI/Pages/Transit-projects/Green-line/home.aspx?redirect=/greenline





Calgary Trolley bus picture - Click prev or next below the picture.
http://www.trolleybuses.net/cgy/htm/can_h_cgy_brill_458_19681120_ss.htm
http://www.trolleybuses.net/cgy/htm/can_h_cgy_misc_map_1969_ss.htm
http://www.trolleybuses.net/cgy/htm/can_h_cgy_misc_art_orders4_19501201.htm

For the cost, could have nice bike paths and hand out bikes w/e-assist. Most ready-made customers for ENMAX (City of Calgary electric company). But then that might not support digging up the "tar sands" more to process for fossil fuels. Oooops.

Locally, in Toronto with a thing "good credit" can finance the purchase of one new Canadian "power-assisted bicycle" where monthly loan payments are about HALF of a monthly pass for pubic transit. So. No more "last mile"... parks anywhere for free... get around town faster than any car operator ("driver"). And $.10-20 cents of electricity gets 30-40 miles or more to the next "gas station"/plugin (watts usually free anyway).

You should have seen the gong show over a few bike lanes in the downtown core. The review went well and they are staying for the time being, a few minor changes. In general people did not like that it took up 'on-street' parking spaces, plus the general public did not see many bicyclists using it.

The one major gripe I have with the Calgary Transit system is that very few buses have bike racks. Even the train replacement buses are few and far between. I am not sure of the reasoning behind not having bike racks on buses. They would be cheap to buy and install. They could install a handful of bike racks a day and over time they would all be done. In B.C. every single bus in the entire province, including the small buses have bike racks.

The only downside is the bus terminals where they clean and repair the buses would not allow as many buses "head-to-toe" inside the terminal. Maybe one bus at the absolute most wouldnt be able to fit, and thats a BIG maybe! I'd say when the rack is up, it takes up an additional 3 to 4", lets say 6" over the length of a 50' bus, they would need 100 buses, and if it stuck out 1' 50 buses. So I dont even think that is an issue. It doesnt look like to me those terminals can fit 50 buses head-to-toe in one lane of the bay.

What they should really do, starting with the train drivers is give them ESL speach lessons as they have to talk over the PA system and most of the time I can't understand anything they say because their accent is so thick, whether it be from Pakistan, India or China, Korea. Public safety they all speak fluently, even the police force. Now for the information people that work when a section of track is down, its about 50/50.

^^ hehe... Re ESL... So. Like the GTA/Toronto has been for decades? ... I'd be re purposing staff FROM drivers, etc TO working as staff at neighbourhood stations... battery swaps... pickup/drop off... repairs and maintenance... lessons in safety and operations... And let attrition/aging/experience shrink the needed personnel costs over time.

"Traffic"/parking/etc large vehicle "problems" would just disappear? If EVerybuddy already has one of these electric CityBikes (TM) who would a thief sell to? (Why are any types of bikes taken anyway?)

Can ya imagine a neighbourhood flooded with tiny GPS-tracked vehicles with no empty seats? With no locks or chains needed?

Versus costs to staff and maintain large, heavy vehicles tied to schedules and personnel costs and regular routes and much of the time with empty seats.

Hmm... Decisions, decisions. :wink:

I would pair electric with induction charging at every stop, plus hydro-pneumatic capture during stopping and start-up.

Hydro-pneumatic has been tried in a pilot program, and it works. The difference between a hydraulic pump and a hydraulic motor is very little. On a hydro-pneumatic system, a hydraulic motor/pump is placed on a protruding shaft on the transmission (or electric motor in this case).

When the bus is slowing, the unit acts as a pump, and the forward-moving weight of the bus drives it to fill a nitrogen-charged vertical cylinder (an accumulator in hydraulic language). The nitrogen acts as a spring (which theoretically should never wear out), which is very similar to "regen" on an electric bike. The brakes last a very long time, and upon the driver starting to accelerate? the hydro-pneumatic cylinder now feeds pressurized oil to the motor/pump to give the bus a boost from a stop up to about 20-MPH.

I know inductive charging for a few moments when the bus is picking up and dropping off passengers at the bus-stop will not give the pack much of a charge, but a little bit at every stop will allow the battery to be a little smaller. batteries wear out and need to be replaced, a well-designed hydro-pneumatic system should last as long as the differential on the rear axle.

Any type of energy capture/storage/release will have some inefficiency, or other cost. Hydraulic accumulators usually have seals and/or membranes that are maintenance items.

The buses that Obama gave my city in 2011 have super-caps with an electric motor/generator regen system that sucks balls and will be removed as soon as Obama's 'free' program allows it.

"hydro-pneumatics"... "super-caps"... On list of "stuff to get" is one compound bow. To mount underneath recumbent operator ("rider") and can be pedaled at stops (spinning a motor as generator) to pull the bow string. Light go green, etc? Release the bow to spin the wheel. An assist to the assist. :wink:

What about charging at traffic lights and stop signs, and bus stops. Of course buses stop for longer periods of time half way through the route.

^^ Hehe... I'd let the passengers pedal. To "regen" the batteries and accumulate points towards free rides in future. :wink: ... left unheated in cooler months, can pedal for warmth. Some passengers might enter the monthly Lose Some Weight contests.

:lol:

I'd rather pay my $44/m for the "welfare" pass. Oh sorry no to be politically correct its "Low-Income" oh if they only new my real income

I have been pissed off that there are no bicycle racks on atleast the major big buses, I know just the places to go to get a petition signed, train stations, bike stores, bike swap meets. I have never done anything like that before, I wonder how to go about actually doing something worth while like that. I could try to "lobby" the mayor, but the funding is so restricted so maybe get industry in on it, they could get free advertisements on the racks themselves, petitions are too much work and I am lazy. :lol:

ACK! "... bicycle racks on at least the major big buses..." Could not the "poor" ride electric-assist bikes and trikes??? (Having said this, was turned down not so long ago for financing of buy one new ebike. Though having now experienced riding a recumbent trike... now looking for some sort of conversion kit. Kinda lovin' the big seat plus back rest on a trike. )

EDIT: And arm rest.

"FTA Hands Over $39 Million for Electric Bus Transit Line"
http://ngtnews.com/fta-hands-over-39m-in-federal-funding-for-electric-transit-project

Starts:

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has announced the award of approximately $39 million in federal grant funds for construction of the 4th Street/Prater Way Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project, which will utilize four electric buses for transportation between Reno and Sparks, Nev.

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Hmmm... Four buses to go less than miles from Sparks to Reno. For $39 million US. All day and night, year `round service?

At, say $1000 for each electric bike... 39,000 bikes? NV Energy (Nevada city electric company) STILL gets the biz, but how much saved in driver/personnel costs?

(Wiki

Reno is part of the Reno–Sparks metropolitan area, which consists of all of both Washoe and Storey counties, and has a 2013 estimated population of 420,000.

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Kinda wonder how full those electric buses will be...