Posts Tagged: Bus

31
Oct

2012

Chiva Express – Ecuador’s Own Railbus/Busrail


All board!! Image by Flickr user LR Fox.

In our never ending quest to document and showcase transport oddities, a reader has sent us a link to a rather delightful and fun transport vehicle from Ecuador.

The Chiva Express as it’s called, is a traditional Latin American bus (known as a chiva bus) which was converted into a train. While chiva buses typically function as a form of public transit in rural Ecuador and Colombia, this “rail bus” was merely a tourist attraction which gave visitors an exhilarating ride through some of the country’s most scenic spots. In typical chiva bus fashion, it offered adventurous riders with openair rooftop seats.

Unfortunately, according to the operators of the Chiva Express, this ride is no longer operational as of June 2010 due to “challenges involving rail operations in Ecuador.” A source revealed that legislative changes made in 2009 by the Ecuadorian Railway Company no longer permitted passengers to ride on the roof of trains. After seeing some more photos of this system (see below), I presume (and I could be wrong) that the rule revisions may perhaps be grounded in issues related to safety concerns. Nonetheless, in my opinion, if people can build and safely operate/ride an openair gondola, then somehow riding on a train’s rooftop platform above a gorge somehow fails to sound nearly as frightening.

Anyone still wanna ride on the roof? Image by Flick user MetropolitanTouring.



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Oddities
0
Comments
18
Sep

2012

Is This The Best Bus Commercial Ever?

In our ongoing effort to catalogue the best, the worst and the middling of public transportation marketing, we bring to you what is arguably the most “epic” bus commercial ever.

Behold, Denmark’s Midttrafik:



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Marketing Issues
2
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04
Sep

2012

Public Transit Psychology: Anti-Social Behaviour on Buses

Most humans are social creatures – we enjoy the company of others (typically) and others enjoy our company. However, anyone who rides public transit on a regular basis knows that chatting it up with a stranger or sitting next to someone on an empty bus are pure violations of an unspoken set of social rules.

Another example: when a bus nears full, the objective becomes finding a seat next to a non-weirdo. And when the bus is full, well... stand next to a non-weirdo. Image by Flickr user fredcamino.

Believe it or not, this type of behaviour has actually been researched and has been coined, “nonsocial transient behaviour” or NTB. NTB in layman terms are strategies used by people to keep strangers away. Based on two years of study, Esther Kim, found that bus users employ a number of tactics to avoid sitting next to the “weirdo” which include:

  • Avoiding eye contact with other people
  • Leaning against the window and stretch out your legs
  • Placing a large bag on the empty seat
  • Sitting on the aisle seat and turn on your iPod so you can pretend you can’t hear people asking for the window seat.
  • Placing several items on the spare seat so it’s not worth the passenger’s time waiting for you to move them.
  • Looking out the window with a blank stare to look crazy
  • Pretending to be asleep
  • Putting your coat on the seat to make it appear already taken
  • If all else fails, lie and say the seat has been taken by someone else
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According to the research paper, the reasons for this type of disengagement is related to: uncertainty about strangers, lack of privacy or absence of a personal space, and exhaustion.
While I haven’t done a thesis on this subject myself, based on my personal experiences, I’ve seen many riders apply these strategies. But what I find strange is that why these tactics are rarely ever used in non-bus travel. In particular, I’m referring to airplanes. Socially it seems to me (and I may be a wrong), but it seems a little more appropriate to spark up a chat on an airplane with a fellow passenger, than doing the same on a bus.
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So why is this the case? Is there is something inherently unnerving and disconcerting with buses? Or has bus travel simply been a victim of stereotyping for the past decades, which has caused most people to view it as a “lower” class of travel?
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Should this be the case, perhaps what we need a little more in our lives are these “Norwegian style” bus campaigns.


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Marketing Issues
5
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11
Nov

2009

Sky-Riding Bus

They say truth is stranger than fiction, and this is certainly no exception:

ski-gondola-bus

This system was actually built.  It was designed so that it could propel itself along the support cables without need of a wheelhouse. It is easily one of the most bizarre cable contraptions I’ve ever encountered and I’ll admit to having scant details about where, when and how it occurred.

Anyone who has any more information on it, please send word this way.

(December 5, 2009: I recently discovered this. Apparently the system above is called the Aerobus.  I know virtually nothing about this technology and so can’t comment upon it. My first instinct says that the idea of a self-propelled cable transit system defeats the purpose of CPT, but who knows . . . )



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History / Oddities
1
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