Future of Transit Taking Sharp at the Big Blue Bus
01 July 2008
What should buses look and ride like in 2050? Some compelling, out-of-the-box, eco-friendly and even unorthodox answers to that question are emerging via a talented team of designers from one of the most advanced and influential transportation design schools in the world who, in tandem with Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus, are taking part in a project to create a “big picture” vision of the next generation of transit.
A key goal of the unique collaboration is to begin a thought-provoking and ongoing dialogue between the transit industry and the public regarding how to evolve transit design into creating vehicles that are more progressive, meaningful and pleasurable to use.
“We need bold new visions of where transit can ultimately go, so that we can engage the public and make transit a desirable and regular part of people’s lives,” said Stephanie Negriff, director of transit services for the Big Blue Bus. “We’re hoping through this innovative partnership with Art Center College of Design that we can help inspire not only the public’s imagination, but also provide fresh new ideas and solutions to the country’s bus manufacturers to seriously consider.”
An important interactive aspect of the project is the blog that the public can use to interact directly with the design team. The blog includes polling questions, progress reports written by the design students themselves, rough sketches of the concept vehicles, and an area where people can post messages and comments.
According to Negriff, the idea for this unusual collaboration came about when the agency was researching options for new buses to purchase. “As we looked around at what was available, it became clear that although bus technology has rapidly improved, bus design is still lagging behind. That’s something that definitely needs to change.”
“Buses today look pretty much like they did 50 years ago, and I think the industry is aware that to encourage the public to ride more and drive less, tomorrow’s buses will need to be sleek and sexy, environmentally friendly, customized for maximum comfort and responsive to all the different ways people want to use transit.”
The design team from Art Center College of Design includes Geoff Wardle, Director of Advanced Mobility Research and Associate Chair of Graduate Industrial Design, and design students Mike Peterson (8th term, Environmental Design), Gabriel Wartofsky (6th term, Transportation Design) and Giuseppe Filippone (6th term, Transportation Design).
Source : english.chinabuses.com
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