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NYC subways get tap-to-ride turnstiles starting late 2018
New York City's plan to modernize its mass transit payments is getting underway... although you definitely won't want to chuck your MetroCard any time soon. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is greenlighting a hefty $573 million contract that will install NFC-equipped fare systems across NYC. The plan should start installing readers in 600 buses and 500 subway turnstiles starting in late 2018, so you may tap your phone or card sooner than you might have thought (there was talk of a rollout in 2021). The rollout won't reach every corner of the city (plus Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North trains) until late 2020, though, so it won't be consistently convenient for a while.
Ford's commuter van service Chariot halts operations in San Francisco
Chariot, an on-demand commuter van service owned by Ford, had to suspend it's operations in San Francisco due to compliance issues with the California Highway Patrol, according to the San Francisco Business Times.
A hyperloop route may zip between Kansas City and St. Louis
The earliest hyperloop routes might not be limited to wealthy tech havens like California or the UAE. Missouri officials and Hyperloop One are seriously exploring the possibility of a hyperloop route that would run between Kansas City and St. Louis. In theory, the pod-based system would shuttle you between the cities in under half an hour, instead of the nearly 4 hours it takes by car -- you could commute from one end of the state to the other for work.
Electric bus sets record with 1,101-mile trip on a single charge
Think it was impressive when a Tesla club drove a Model S nearly 670 miles? It has nothing on what Proterra just managed. The startup just drove a Catalyst E2 Max electric bus a whopping 1,101.2 miles on a single charge. That's the furthest any EV has managed before recharging, and well past the 1,013.8 miles driven by the previous record-holder, a one-seat experimental car nicknamed "Boozer." It's not hard to see how Proterra managed the feat when you know about the technology, but this still bodes well for eco-friendly public transportation.
Lyft thinks it can fix Los Angeles traffic with fewer lanes
For the past several decades, cities have designed streets around the assumption that they'll be used for personal cars. If you need a poster child for this, you just have to look at Los Angeles' Wilshire Boulevard -- it has a whopping 10 lanes for vehicles, and even the bus lanes are almost treated like afterthoughts. It's no wonder gridlock is such a common problem, since LA is practically inviting more drivers and the traffic chaos that results. Lyft isn't happy with this state of affairs, and it thinks urban planners need to reinvent the road if they want to reduce traffic and embrace the future. It's partnering with designers at Perkins+Will and Nelson/Nygaard on a conceptual Wilshire Boulevard redesign for an era when car ownership fades away and public options dominate. There would be fewer lanes, but it could potentially serve up to 77,000 people per hour instead of today's 29,600.
Gogoro and Bosch launch electric scooter-sharing service in Paris
The Gogoro EV Smartscooter is headed to France. A fleet of 600 scooters will be available starting this summer for short-term rentals via Bosch's Coup Mobility service. This is the second city -- Berlin being the first -- that Coup and Gogoro have teamed up in.
San Francisco transit stations fall victim to a hack
San Franciscans just got an all-too-real demonstration of what it's like when hackers attack urban infrastructure. The city's Municipal Transportation Agency has confirmed that the Muni station computer system was hacked, leading officials to open fare gates, shut down ticket kiosks and otherwise make rides free on November 26th. Trains themselves were unaffected, and payments resumed on the morning of the 27th. It's not certain exactly who was responsible (besides "Andy Saolis," likely a pseudonym), but Hoodline understands that the intruders were using ransomware to hold the city hostage until it paid the equivalent of $73,000 in bitcoin. Screens at terminals said "you hacked, ALL data encrypted" and pointed the city to a Russian email address to arrange payment.
Hyperloop One shows how its first routes could work
Hyperloop One's plans for super-fast tube transportation are shaping up. The company, partnering with the city of Dubai, has introduced a concept that illustrates how an autonomous Hyperloop system would work in the United Arab Emirates alongside existing infrastructure. There would be several Portals (read: stations) strung across Dubai proper (including at the Burj Khalifa), as well as a connection between Dubai and Abu Dhabi that would drastically reduce the time it takes to travel between cities -- you'd get from one to the other in 12 minutes instead of the usual 2 hours by car.
Toyota's hydrogen buses can work as emergency generators
Toyota will start selling fuel cell (FC) buses in 2017, with the aim of selling up to 100 in the Tokyo area ahead of the 2020 Olympic games. The company is using a beefed up version of the fuel system it developed for the Toyota Murai, with 10 high pressure tanks holding 600 liters of highly compressed H2. That gives it 235 kWh or power, about three times that of a Tesla Model S, meaning it "can be used as a power source in the event of disasters," the company said in a press release.
Transit's app now tells you when to hurry for the bus
Sure, your existing phone apps can tell you when to catch the bus and when to hop off, but public transportation fans know that's only half the story. What if the driver is quicker than you expected, or a delay ruins your subway connection? Transit might just save the day. It's updating its Android and iOS apps with a Go routing feature that could take some of the uncertainty out of commuting. You'll get on-screen and voice notifications when it's time to head out or disembark, but it gets truly interesting when things go haywire. Transit will tell you to hurry up if your departure time suddenly skips ahead, create a new itinerary if you miss a ride and warn you if a bus takes a surprise detour.
New York: Don't use your Galaxy Note 7 on the subway
Samsung just can't catch a break. On top of aviation regulators and safety officials warning against using pre-recall versions of the Galaxy Note 7, New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority now says that Note 7 owners are "urged" against using or charging their phone on buses and trains. You should turn it off before entering the station, the MTA says. This isn't a formal ban, but it's safe to say that you'll be a persona non grata if the Authority catches you using the fire-prone handset on the subway.
Mercedes' autonomous bus makes a landmark trip on public roads
Mercedes-Benz's CityPilot autonomous bus technology just got a real-world, long-range test drive on the streets and highways of the Netherlands. One of the company's Future Bus vehicles successfully followed a 20km Bus Rapid Transit route between Amsterdam's Schiphol airport and the nearby town of Haarlem, navigating through tight turns, intersections and pedestrian areas all without the need for human input.
A San Francisco housing complex is subsidizing Uber rides
While some communities aren't so sure about ridesharing, an upscale development is actually paying residents to use it. Parcmerced, a planned apartment complex in the southwest corner of San Francisco, has partnered with Uber to encourage residents to ditch their cars. The townhouse and apartment complex offers a $100 transit subsidy toward bus and train services, but residents must spend at least $30 of that on Uber rides. The remaining $70 (or less) can be used on a Clipper card, which gives users access to the BART and Muni light rail services.
Obama proposes oil tax to fund clean transportation
President Obama has proposed a $10 per-barrel tax on oil to fund cleaner mass transit and cleaner vehicle research. The plan, laid out in a fact sheet, is a "smart, strategic integrated investments to help reduce carbon pollution, strengthen economy" according to the White House.
New York City won't let you take 'hoverboards' on the subway
Efforts might be underway to legalize "hoverboards" in New York City, but that doesn't mean that you'll get to take them everywhere you go even if they do get the all-clear. The Metropolitan Transportation Agency has banned the self-balancing scooters on buses, trains and stations over their well-publicized fire risks. Also, the MTA is quick to add that it already bans skateboards and other wheeled transport -- this is just a logical extension of that policy. In short, the chances of ever carrying that Swagway on the subway are pretty much zero. [Image credit: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images]
Uber's latest app partnership helps you catch the bus
For many, the biggest problem with public transit is simply reaching it. A 15 minute bus ride isn't very fast if it'll take you 30 minutes to walk to the stop, after all. That's where Uber and TransLoc think they can help. They're teaming up to give you a mix of both ridesharing and public transit directions in TransLoc's Rider app. Ideally, you'll never have to hoof it longer than necessary, or hail a car for the entire journey -- you can take a relatively low-cost trip that will still get you to your destination in a timely fashion. The experimental feature will only be available in mid-February in the Memphis and Raleigh-Durham areas, but it won't be shocking if there are more cities before long.
Uber is looking into launching two new ridesharing services
Uber announced on Tuesday that it will trial a pair of new ridesharing services in the Seattle and Chicago metro areas. The first, called UberHOP, functions very much like conventional bus transports. It debuts on Thursday December 10th and will match groups of passengers with an Uber driver who is heading in the same direction. However, unlike Uber's normal door-to-door services, this one requires riders and driver to meet at a predetermined location and time (like a bus stop) as well as be dropped off at single location and walk the rest of the way to their final destination.
Amazon's Echo speaker plays music from multiple accounts
Amazon's Echo speaker has been fine for playing music and audiobooks so far... unless you live in a household with more than one Amazon user, at which point it just gets messy. That won't be a problem any longer, though: Amazon has added support for multiple accounts, making it easy to play solely from your own collection. You only have to tell it to switch profiles to get your tunes. Simply put, this could be a lifesaver if you're going to share an Echo with roommates or a significant other -- you don't have to create a shared account or risk having someone else pollute your song recommendations.
Follow the world's mass transit on this live map
Sure, it's not hard to learn when your bus is likely to show up, but have you wondered where everyone else's bus is at any given moment? You now have an easy way to find out. GeOps and the University of Freiburg have rolled out TRAVIC (Transit Visualization Client), a map that shows the real-time positions of buses and trains from more than 200 public transportation systems around the globe. Some of this info is based on schedule estimates, but it's still quite hypnotic -- you can see when subway cars pass by Times Square (hint: often), or how long it takes a bus to arrive at Barcelona's beach. While this tool probably won't be very useful for planning your own trips, it'll definitely remind you just how much effort goes into getting you across the urban landscape.
Russia's new tram is a Batmobile on the outside, tech hub on the inside
Many trams are memorable, but they tend to evoke nostalgia rather than embrace the future. You can't accuse UralVagonZavod (UVZ) of being behind the times with its new Russia One, though. To begin with, it looks like the Batmobile on a closed track -- and for good reason. The forward-tilted windshield helps the conductor spot pedestrians, while the glass composite panels are easy to replace. The tram is cutting-edge on the inside, too. Dynamic LED lighting and music change the cabin mood to suit the time of day. You'll also find positioning (GPS and GLONASS), air conditioning, anti-bacterial hand rails and WiFi. The driver even gets a USB 3.0 port that can keep a phone powered up.
