Looking further down the road. Anybody see this? Fully electric buses that only take 5 minutes to charge and can drive for 250 miles on a single charge.
I'm surprised that they have the ability to travel 250 miles and that they can charge the battery in five minutes. I wonder if the 250 mile range counts in stopping and starting every half mile? If these are for real and priced competitively they will be great.
Sooner or later (probably sooner), electric drivetrains will replace just about everything. What will differ is what supplies/stores the electricity.
The electric bus is an interesting idea, it would be cool if just by running they recharge their own batteries. May they could get a charge somehow at each stop. Lansing loves internal combustion so it is hard to imagine CATA going electric, but maybe if the BWL got involved they could change some minds.
I don't see where in the article that it says can charge in 5 minutes. They did mention an airport-style shuttle that could charge in 10 minutes to drive 30 miles, but the full-size bus pictured was mentioned as charging overnight. Still cool technology though, but I think it is a bit further off than the article makes it seem (maybe 5 years out still before it can become a reality outside of their manufacturing testbed).
@Jared It does say in the article that a test bus they built traveled 258 miles a single charge and it separately states that it can charge in "as little as 5 minutes." I doubt their claims, but I'd agree that at the rate things are going it should be very doable within five years.
@gbinlansing Most of the buses at CATA are hybrids now, they recharge their batteries from the engine and may have regenerative braking also.
There are so many things CATA could do to improve ridership. 24-hour service on the busiest routes might be a place to start. I am not sure how they could do this, but I think folks around here feel like the only reason to ride the bus is that you don't own a car. Not owning a car equals poor. Change that image, make the ride more comfortable, more convenient, even interesting!. Offer a bus ride-hailing service at a higher fare. Just a few thoughts that come to mind. I hope the new leader will think "outside the box" a bit and get a small percent of the people who now drive their own vehicles and are the reason that so much of our landscape is covered with surface parking lots, on to a CATA bus.
CATA could use some updating. Route 1 is the only that I'd call convenient and even that could be improved.
The two main things I'd like to see is an updated app that allows you to buy tickets, and routes that continue going east-west or north-south past the transportation center. In 2017, I shouldn't have to carry around change or go to a booth in order to buy bus tickets. And having to transfer just to go from the north end of town to the south end of town, for example, is a very annoying inconvenience that has definitely limited my bus usage.
About the only competitive advantages CATA has over Uber or Lyft is that it's cheaper and probably better for the environment. I can't think of anything else. If the ridesharing companies ever master having multiple people share the same ride, municipal bus service will be dead.
Comments
Sooner or later (probably sooner), electric drivetrains will replace just about everything. What will differ is what supplies/stores the electricity.
@gbinlansing Most of the buses at CATA are hybrids now, they recharge their batteries from the engine and may have regenerative braking also.
I made an animation of CATA's weekday bus service:
cool look like bugs!
That's impressive, David!
There are so many things CATA could do to improve ridership. 24-hour service on the busiest routes might be a place to start. I am not sure how they could do this, but I think folks around here feel like the only reason to ride the bus is that you don't own a car. Not owning a car equals poor. Change that image, make the ride more comfortable, more convenient, even interesting!. Offer a bus ride-hailing service at a higher fare. Just a few thoughts that come to mind. I hope the new leader will think "outside the box" a bit and get a small percent of the people who now drive their own vehicles and are the reason that so much of our landscape is covered with surface parking lots, on to a CATA bus.
CATA could use some updating. Route 1 is the only that I'd call convenient and even that could be improved.
The two main things I'd like to see is an updated app that allows you to buy tickets, and routes that continue going east-west or north-south past the transportation center. In 2017, I shouldn't have to carry around change or go to a booth in order to buy bus tickets. And having to transfer just to go from the north end of town to the south end of town, for example, is a very annoying inconvenience that has definitely limited my bus usage.
About the only competitive advantages CATA has over Uber or Lyft is that it's cheaper and probably better for the environment. I can't think of anything else. If the ridesharing companies ever master having multiple people share the same ride, municipal bus service will be dead.