Public transportation seattle

WASHINGTON: An app designed to help visually impaired or blind pedestrians use public transit will debut at a Washington subway station on May 24. Waymap aims to expand travel options for blind and visually impaired people with step-by-step audio directions that it says are accurate up to 3 feet (0.9 meter) throughout a trip. The app does not use GPS and can operate regardless of cellphone signal strength indoors or outdoors. It loads detailed mapping data onto a smartphone and uses motion sensors on the phone to offer precise directions. Advocates for the blind, Washington’s transit system Metro, Verizon Communications, which provided support through its startup accelerator programme, and the app’s founder will tout the launch in Washington at a Tuesday news conference. “Mobility is not a luxury,” said Waymap founder and CEO Tom Pey, who is blind and argues other apps are not precise enough. “It is, in fact, a human right.” Blind travellers often use a small number of … [Read more...] about App to help blind people navigate public transit to debut in Washington

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Within weeks driverless electric freight transport trucks may be traveling on public roads in western Tennessee—the first time such a vehicle has been granted permission to do so in the U.S. This latest development in the logistics industry comes after Swedish freight technology company Einride was granted a permit by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for a public road pilot project. The Einride autonomous electric transport (AET) called a Pod, operates without a driver and does not even have a space for one. It is monitored by a specially-trained remote driver who can take control if necessary. The public road pilot is being run in conjunction with Einride client GE Appliances , a Haier company. Pods will operate on public roads in mixed traffic near GE Appliances's Tennessee plant east of Memphis, performing a number of tasks including movement of goods and coordinating with teams at various … [Read more...] about Einride Gets Go-Ahead For Driverless Electric Trucks On Public Roads

Local Phuket transport and provincial officials are AGAIN trying to tackle the island’s notorious taxi and tuk tuk ‘mafias’, after another passenger complained of being ripped off. The island has a long history of extortionate transport costs for local taxis and tuk tuks, giving Phuket a poor and infamous reputation for over-priced transport and rude drivers. Efforts to attract travellers back to the island, after 9 months of almost zero international tourism, hit another speed bump this week after a domestic traveller posted a complaint on social media, claiming she was ripped off by a taxi driver who charged her 200 baht per kilometre. Her complaint mirrors thousands of complaints received by local transport authorities and a long list of similar stories on TripAdvisor and social media over the years. On average travellers in Phuket can expect to pay 3-5 times the fares charged by similar services in Bangkok. Even the online services like Grab have been forced to match their … [Read more...] about Phuket taxis and tuk tuks under the microscope again after passenger ripped off

by John Magee What costs 200 baht in a taxi but 30 baht on a BEAM? Chances are that you’ve seen these little purple scooters BEAMing around Phuket, particularly in the Laguna area, Patong, and Phuket Town. Indeed, they are appearing in growing numbers not only in Thailand but also, for starters, in Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Turkey, and Malaysia. I’ve been fascinated with them, both as a business and as a ride. Who’s behind it and how does it work? At the core, is a short-trip, 2-wheeled ‘personal transportation device’ gone taxi in an Uber-style business model. But there are a couple of major modifications. The company, Beam Mobility Holdings of Singapore, appears to own the wheels and the customer does the driving. All else is familiar, with tracking and management of the fleet on a server somewhere, and customer interface in a nice little app called, simply, “beam”. BMH was founded with private equity in 2018 by two Singaporeans, one of them ex-Uber. The … [Read more...] about BEAM me up! App-based electric scooters come to Phuket

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Tesla’s brand new plants in Germany and Texas will eventually help the electric-car maker dramatically boost output but for now they’re “money furnaces” losing billions of dollars, according to CEO Elon Musk. The mercurial entrepreneur made the comments in an interview with fans from the Tesla Owners Silicon Valley group that were recorded at the Austin Gigafactory on May 31 and posted to Twitter on Wednesday. The group previously posted two other segments of their extended chat with Musk this month. “Both Berlin and Austin factories are gigantic money furnaces right now. It’s like a giant roaring sound, which is the sound of money on fire,” Musk said. “Berlin and Austin are losing billions of dollars right now because there's a ton of expense and hardly any output.” His three-week-old comments come as Tesla closes out a more turbulent quarter marked by a dramatic slowdown in production at its Shanghai … [Read more...] about Musk Calls Tesla’s Berlin, Austin Plants ‘Money Furnaces’ Amid Startup Snags

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin No matter what you may think of Tesla TSLA and its controversial CEO, it still does at least one thing better than any other company in the EV space. The Tesla charging experience remains head and shoulders above the rest of the industry. It’s simple to use and mostly very reliable. As General Motors GM begins the rollout of a whole range of new EVs, it is trying to tackle the easy charging part with its own implementation of Plug & Charge capability. As the name suggests, Plug & Charge is meant to make the use of public chargers brain dead simple. Just plug a cable into an EV and it magically starts flowing electrons into the battery. There is an industry standard called ISO 15118 which defines vehicle to grid communication protocols. Part of this standard is Plug&Charge. When a vehicle is connected to a charger, they shake hands, the vehicle is authenticated including payment information and the … [Read more...] about All GM EVs Add Plug And Charge Capability

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Over the past seven days, striking railway workers have plunged much of Britain’s rail network into chaos causing misery for passengers in a dispute over pay and guarantees around future redundancies. Following walkouts undertaken by members of the National Union of Rail Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) on June 21 and 23, which paralyzed much of the country’s rail infrastructure, yesterday saw the third day of strikes in a week — with more expected to arrive over the course of the summer. The recent spate of railway strikes has been described as the largest of its kind in three decades. One of the arguments against staff cutbacks routinely trotted out by the likes of General Secretary of the RMT Mick Lynch is that any move towards driver-only trains with no guard on board will have a deleterious impact on disabled passengers as there will be nobody available to provide assistance. While there is … [Read more...] about Striking Railway Workers Should Cease Using Disabled Passengers As A Bargaining Chip

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on June 13, 2022 - June 19, 2022. - A + A THE Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd’s (MRT Corp) office in Bangsar was a hive of activity last week as dozens of contractors joined in online via Zoom to get a glimpse of the country’s biggest civil infrastructure project. Briefings on the tender for the MRT3 Circle Line, pegged at RM50 billion including interest cost, kicked off two weeks ago. Consultants were the first batch to be called in a fortnight ago. Then, the contractors were briefed last week. Taking place after a period of scarcely any large infrastructure contracts being dished out since 2018, construction companies are understandably drooling over the MRT3 project. However, unlike the previous two lines of the Klang Valley MRT project, the Circle Line comes with unique challenges. As a result, there could be a smaller pool of eligible contractors bidding for the main construction … [Read more...] about Cover Story: Twists And Turns in MRT3 Project

Mr Worachat said the move may affect tens of thousands of driver partners who would lose their regular income. (Photo: Pawat Laupaisarntaksin) Hundreds of thousands of customers who use GrabBike motorcycle taxis could be affected once unregistered motorcycle taxis are removed from the company's services from the middle of next month, following an order by the Department of Land Transport (DLT), according to Grab Thailand. Grab recently sent a notification to its drivers, indicating the company is required to end contracts with drivers who use motorcycles that are unregistered for public transport services within 30 days, or by July 15. Worachat Luxkanalode, executive director at Grab Thailand, said the move could affect tens of thousands of driver partners who would lose their income. Grab is obliged to follow through on the DLT order, which demands GrabBike drivers have public transport driving licences and their motorcycles be registered for public transport services, Mr … [Read more...] about Unlicensed GrabBike drivers facing ban

Selangor government has no more objection against ECRL passing through state’s northern region — Menteri Besar - A + A KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 2): The Selangor government has no objection to the proposed East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) passing through the State’s northern region, according to Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari. Amirudin said on Thursday (Dec 2) that the State government also has no intention to delay the construction of the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), which is expected to have a positive impact on the people of the East Coast States and the Klang Valley. He emphasised that the decision by Selangor was made after taking into account discussions and arriving at a consensus with stakeholders involved in the ECRL project which include the Ministry of Transport (MOT), Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd (MRLSB), local authorities as well as Federal and State government agencies. At the ECRL document handover ceremony for Section C (Northern Alignment), Amirudin … [Read more...] about Selangor greenlights ECRL’s original northern alignment