The "B" is *not* for "buses"

Via mastodon(aka the fediverse)

I wonder: Do Americans know about american school buses? Not their existence in general, but how they're seen overseas.

Over here, they're one of the symbols of America, on par with the Statue of Liberty, the flag, the Eagle, and well ahead of any chain restaurant you can name. People won't know any US states, but they will know these vehicles.

The thing is, here in Germany, we don't have dedicated school buses. The general idea is that kids go to school on their own. When that's not practical, they're expected to use (and given free tickets for) public transit. Public transit is designed around this requirement; there are many places where there is a bus, and anyone can get on it, but the route and timetable really only makes sense for school children. In case a dedicated school bus is really needed, that's generally subcontracted out, and the lines either use something like a Sprinter Van for smaller routes, or a normal city or interurban bus (often a used one that's a bit older). School trips are normal public transit, or a rented bus, typically a coach or regional bus.

It's not a perfect system, in the past couple of years there's been an epidemic of people bringing their kids to school in their cars instead of letting them walk, which is less than ideal. It is what it is. But building a dedicated network of public transit lines only for students, and building dedicated vehicles only for that, has never occurred to anyone here.

Of course we know about these buses, from movies and such, but they're as foreign here as cacti or pick-up trucks (actually we're seeing more and more of these here) or yellow cabs (all europeans will assume all cabs in the US are yellow until they actually visit).

You do see these buses here at times, because people still generally like the idea of the US, even if they have a lot of issues with a lot of details, and so folks bring them over, along with stretch limos and stuff (also not really a thing here). And of course, if someone goes to all that trouble, they don't do it to haul school kids, they rent it out for city tours or as a party bus or whatever.

So you see these yellow things as a symbol of faraway places, scenic vistas, some vague undefined idea of freedom that doesn't necessarily hold up to any contact with reality, and it's just a huge part of the whole US aesthetic.

And then you go to a student exchange with the US, and you finally get the chance: You yourself get to ride in one of these iconic chrome yellow buses! It looks just like in the movies! You get in, you drive in them a little…

…and you realise they're shit. Just the worst buses in the western world. Terrible suspension. Uncomfortable seats with weirdly high backs (so they don't have to put seatbelts in, they just restrict how far kids can fly in an accident). Everything made out of the cheapest materials. Turns out the reason why the US uses school buses like that instead of normal modern city buses, which the US has, is to save money and because they just hate kids.

And then it hits you why US Americans say "as American as apple pie", a dish that is made and enjoyed literally anywhere in the world, instead of "as American as yellow school buses". Of course the Americans already knew all this. They got tortured by these things forever. It would never occur to them to see this as a symbol of America, it's just a normal part of life for them. It's a symbol of school and school life and sometimes normalcy, and tells us that these actors getting out of it are supposed to be teenagers, nothing more.

But most people in Europe have, of course, never ridden on these buses. So when they see them in movies and TV, that's a giant big yellow signifier that we're not in Hessen or Wallonia or wherever anymore. A symbol of a different world, one that may be at most a once-in-a-lifetime-experience for most people, just like a picture of a tropical beach, Incan Pyramids, the Great Wall of China, or Hildesheim (there's no reason to go there twice). And I think Americans don't know that, and that's fascinating.

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #4

Feb 2-9 2024

The White House announced that a landmark 23 million Americans, 1 in 6 households, have been connected to affordable high speed internet with the help of the Affordable Connectivity Program, saving Americans between $30 and $75 every month on their internet bill. 4 Million ACP users are seniors, 1/4th of households on the program are African American and 1/4th are Latino, and it supports 320,000 households on Tribal lands. Sadly the program will be forced to end if Republicans in Congress continue to block new funding

The White House announced $5 billion for a National Semiconductor Technology Center, focusing on research and development as well as workforce needs. This is part of an effort under the CHIPS and Science Act to make America a world leader in science and grow jobs for the 21st century. This will include hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in workforce development

The EPA announced finalized rules that will strength air quality standard around fine particle pollution, AKA soot. The new stronger rules are projected to prevent 4,200 premature deaths and save Americans $46 billion in health costs by 2032. Soot is particularly harmful to those with lung and heart illnesses, children and those with asthma. Industrial soot is more common in low income communities

The Department of Transportation announced $1.5 Billion investment in America's bus systems. The bulk of the money will go helping local transport authorities buy low or no emission buses. There will also be investment in bus facilities.

President Biden signed a memorandum directing a strengthening of human rights safe guards around weapons transferred from US stockpiles to allied nations. The directive seeks to guarantee no arms are transferred that might be used to violate human rights.

HHS and HUD announced a join program partnering with 8 states and DC to help streamline an all of government response to homelessness. This is an off shoot of the $3.16 billion dollar investment amounted by HUD last week to end homelessness in America

The Department of Energy and FEMA released the findings of a two year study that projections Puerto Rico will be able to be 100% renewable energy by 2050. DoE also announced that by the end of the 30,000 low income Puerto Ricans will be able to apply for a solar power program, the first investments in a billion dollar DoE program for the island's renewable energy future

Department of Transportation announced $417 million dollar loan to the North Carolina Turnpike Authority to complete a major transportation overhaul in the greater Raleigh area

The EPA and Department of Energy announced a joint plan to invest federal funds to help measure and reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas production. Methane is the second largest green house gas after CO2 and is responsible for 30% of global warming in the last 200 years. This comes after the EPA pushed new rules to fine oil and gas manufacturers for excess methane emissions.

The Senate confirmed 2 more Biden nominated federal judges. This brings the total number of Biden judges to 177 For the first time in history a majority of a President's judicial nominees are not white men, Biden has nominated a majority women and people of color Biden also nominated 4 more federal judges, including two LGBT candidates. If they are confirmed it'll bring Biden's LGBT judge total to 11 tying with President Obama for the most LGBT people put on the federal bench

Toyota Century II Arakawa, Tokyo, Japan

Solarpunk Sunday Suggestion:

Ride on public transport

Prototype of the Ikarus 250 bus in front of Hotel Hungária, Siófok, 1970. From the Budapest Municipal Photography Company archive.  

As of next July next year, 2025, we will start putting cat ears on all of the trains. Hopefully, if we can secure the funding, we will be able to put dog ears on buses (excluding CAT buses) by 2026 with a focus on the 999, 998, and 910 bus routes.

buses are like the big ol cows of the cars

BDSM - Buses Do So Much (for the environment) T-Shirt

$35.00

Show your pride for the dominance of public transportation.

100% cotton classic black tee.

Not sold cropped, but recommended.

All orders go to support Streets for All's continuing advocacy for safer streets in Los Angeles.

Hoy en: “no es ElMundoToday”…

Thoughts on trolleybuses?

trolleybuses are a very good option for cities that are willing to put in a bit of extra upfront cost in exchange for long term reliability and cost reduction. trolleybuses are much more mechanically simple than other buses as they do not need to carry their own source of power -- internal combustion engines or battery technology both add layers of complexity, more components that wear and need maintenance, and contribute to extra costs in maintenance. not to mention, they're old and battle tested -- we know what wears down, we know when it wears down, and the technology has been proven for decades

whether your city should build trolleybuses is a different question. cities with challenging topography (San Francisco and Seattle for example) get a lot of extra benefits owing to their superior performance on steep slopes. they also don't suffer from range anxiety the same way battery-electric buses would in cold climates.

it comes with a tradeoff -- the trolley wires are extra maintenance, and if the bus comes off the wire you gotta spend a bit of time putting them back on. modern trolleybuses often include small battery systems to let them travel some miles without being connected to power, which is pretty huge for flexibility reasons. San Francisco's latest trolley fleet can go for (i believe) around 4 miles before losing power? not to mention newer designs that are essentially battery-trolley hybrids, allowing for trolleybuses to venture much farther out from main corridors that have the trolley poles.

cities looking to build bus rapid transit systems especially should consider them -- if you're going through the effort to build dedicated travel lanes for your buses, putting trolley wires above them is not much of an extra cost and can help electrify your system without the unknown variables that come with fledgling battery-electric bus technology.

in short: trolleybuses good, more cities should consider using them, and by no means should any city be ripping out trolley wires.

~ Freyja

You know, once Youve:

Been in a car crash

Had your engine give out on the motorway

Had your windows smashed in

Had your car spontaneously combust

Been rear-ended

Had the breaks fail

Been hit by someone reversing

And been rear-ended again

You start to think "hey, maybe cars shouldn't be allowed anymore"

(all in just 5 years, most recent event happened today)

1954 GM Scenicruiser

Elephant and Castle

30th November 2023

Ig: walkuponacloud