The E-KomiBus (which, for reasons unknown, bears the nickname “MAYU”) is a totally electric and tiny little bus. It’s only 173” long (shorter than a 2012 Honda Civic), and runs on lithium ion batteries, which have a range of about 25 miles after charging 8 hours. With a top speed of 12mph, it’s ideally suited for driving through the narrow back streets not covered by conventional bus routes.

The university hopes that senior citizens and tourists (the two groups least likely to own driver’s licenses in Gunma) will use the E-KomiBus, which seats 10.

Link

(Image source: Yomiuri Online)

Wait, let me check my calendar. Yup, 2011. So it's surprising to read about a New York public bus line that still forces women to sit in the back.

Here's what happened when Melissa Franchy boarded the B110 bus in Brooklyn and sat down near the front:

For a few minutes she was left in silence, although the other passengers gave her a noticeably wide berth. But as the bus began to fill up, the men told her that she had to get up. Move to the back, they insisted.

They were Orthodox Jews with full beards, sidecurls and long black coats, who told her that she was riding a “private bus” and a “Jewish bus.” When she asked why she had to move, a man scolded her.

“If God makes a rule, you don’t ask ‘Why make the rule?’” he told Franchy, who rode the bus at the invitation of a New York World reporter. She then moved to the back where the other women were sitting. The driver did not intervene in the incident.

The B110 bus travels between Williamsburg and Borough Park in Brooklyn. It is open to the public, and has a route number and tall blue bus stop signs like any other city bus. But the B110 operates according to its own distinct rules. The bus line is run by a private company and serves the Hasidic communities of the two neighborhoods. To avoid physical contact between members of opposite sexes that is prohibited by Hasidic tradition, men sit in the front of the bus and women sit in the back.

Is it gender discrimination or a reasonable approach to accomodate religious rights?

Sasha Chavkin of The New York World reports: Link | Follow up at The New York World and The New York Times

The streets of Nanjing, China, may not be paved with gold, but here’s the next best thing: a bus covered with 24-karat gold leaf.

The distinctive "Golden Bus", which began rolling on April 25th of 2011, is the centerpiece of a rather expensive promotion by a Nanjing jewelry store… expensive meaning 200,000 yuan (about $30,800). Usually bus promotional ads involving an entire bus cost 1/10th as much.

Inventor Spot has the story: Link

What looks like a Stretch Batmobile, goes really fast, and runs on electric motor? The Dutch Superbus, the brainchild of Wubbo Ockels, who created the car for public transportation (that or a really, really expensive ride to prom).

AOL’s Translogic blog has the video clip: Link (Photo: Radio Netherlands Worldwide)

New York comedian and filmmaker Mark Malkoff (who drinks a lot of coffee) wanted to illustrate how slow MTA buses are. So he raced against a bus while he rode …a child’s Big Wheel! The race went a mile down 42nd street. Can you guess who won? -Thanks, Mark!

The Federal Transit Authority (FTA) proposes raising the assumed average weight per bus passenger from 150 pounds to 175 pounds, which could mean that across the country, fewer people will be allowed on a city transit bus.

The transit authority, which regulates how much weight a bus can carry, also proposes adding an additional quarter of a square foot of floor space per passenger. The changes are being sought "to acknowledge the expanding girth of the average passenger," the agency says.

"This change is really just a bow to reality," says Joseph Schwieterman, who studies bus ridership as director of the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University in Chicago. "With no small number of bus passengers tipping the scale at 200 pounds or more, this is much more realistic."

Larry Copeland of USA Today has the full story on this weighty matter: Link

Eric Fischer took data from San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation agency (Muni) bus routes and turned it into a graph titled "A day of Muni":

Eric Fischer took publicly available data from the Muni (San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency) showing the geographic coordinates of their vehicles to create this map showing average transit speeds over a 24-hour period. Muni is one of America?s oldest public transit agencies and today carries over 200 million customers per year in 80 routes throughout the city and county of San Francisco.
Black lines represent very slow movement under 7 mph. Red are less than 19 mph. Blue are less than 43 mph. Green lines depict faster speeds above 43 mph.

Link – via Holy Kaw

This one is pretty nifty: LEGO has a new kit that lets you build the Tower Bridge of London (complete with the iconic red Double Decker bus and the Black Cab) out of LEGO bricks. Link

Mukhtar is a bud bus driver in Copenhagen. You can tell he was worried when a trumpeter started playing on his bus. Would the other passengers complain? Then it gradually became clear that almost everyone on the bus was there to wish him a happy birthday! -Thanks, Hanan!

This may look like a snake attack, but it’s actually an ad on a bus inviting everyone to the Copenhagen Zoo. Link -via J-Walk Blog

Transit officials have been touting the benefits of public transit for years and apparently these goats got the message. But when they tried to board the C-Tran bus in Vancouver (update 11/18/08 – that’s Vancouver, Washington, by the way, as pointed out in the comment – Thanks John Milligan!), they were turned away, as you can see in this surveillance video.

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – Thanks Tiffany!

Let’s have a little fun: punniest comment will win a free Funny T-Shirt from the Neatorama Shop. One entry per comment, please. You can enter as many as you’d like. Good luck!

"Then one day I was on my way to college and had to run after the bus. I must have been quite fast because a girl came up to me afterwards and asked if I ran with a club."

It turned out the girl was from Kent Athletic Club and she introduced him to leading sprint coach Clarence Callender, who was immediately impressed. Jeffrey, now 23, of Mottingham, South London, is already carving out a name for himself – and encouraging children to take up athletics at an early age. [...]

He added: "I never thought running after a bus would lead to all this. And the funny thing is, I missed it."

Link | Jeffrey’s profile at The Stellar Group

(Photo: Stellar Group Ltd)

Here in pittsburgh we’ve had buses that run on natural gas for a while now …. BUT these ones out in Oslo run on a different type of ‘Natural Gas’, the taco-bell type … Kinda gross but really cool way to power a vehicle, like in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.

It is available for free in huge quantities, is not owned by Saudi Arabia and it contributes minimally towards climate change. The latest green fuel might seem like the dream answer to climate crisis, but until recently raw sewage has been seen as a waste disposal problem rather than a power source. Now Norway’s capital city is proving that its citizens can contribute to the city’s green credentials without even realising it.

Link – via guardian

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by JKirchartz.

The boy, whose name wasn’t released, missed the bus, took the keys to his family’s 2005 Ford Taurus and drove nearly six miles toward school while his mother was asleep, police said.

He made at least two 90-degree turns, passed several cars and ran off the rural two-lane road several times before hitting an embankment and utility pole about a mile and a half from school.

The boy told police he learned to drive playing Grand Theft Auto and Monster Truck Jam video games.

"He was very intent on getting to school," said Northumberland County Sheriff Chuck Wilkins. "When he got out of the car, he started walking to school. He did not want to miss breakfast and PE."

That boy sure is motivated to go to school! Link