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bus posts

Raleigh, North Carolina buses get on-board DTV

by Donald Melanson posted Apr 14th 2009 @ 5:21PM

Planning to hop on a bus in Raleigh, North Carolina anytime soon? Then there's a chance you could be treated to an added distraction during your trip, as the city has just rolled out its first CAT bus equipped with mobile DTV, which looks to be one of the first projects resulting from those MPH tests that took place last year. This little bit of magic also comes courtesy of a little help from LG and Harris Corp., who are supplying the displays and mobile transmission equipment for the pilot program, which will be expanded to five buses by August, with another 20 planned for the second phase that'll run though August 2010. Of course, your viewing options will be somewhat limited, with a simulcast of local station WRAL apparently the only channel on tap, along with some weather information and, of course, a healthy dose of advertising.

[Thanks, Dana]

Author taps out 384-page book using mobile

by Sean Cooper posted Jun 24th 2007 @ 12:25PM

We're usually pretty proud when we're able to crank out a few emails -- or mediate a discussion gone wrong in the comment section -- on our morning commute. Italian author Robert Burnocco has us trumped in style by actually using T9 and his mobile to cobble together a 384-page book in just 17 weeks. He was inspired to write his mobile opus, Compagni di Viaggio (Travelling companion) on the bus as apparently "In public transport, I realized that my imagination was productive and that the ideas abounded." We aren't sure what the buses are like in Italy, but we are usually just surrounded by lunatics and screaming schoolkids on our morning ride, hardly a top spot for creative endeavors.

[Via textually.org]

NTSB to bus drivers: don't talk and drive, pretty please

by Darren Murph posted Nov 27th 2006 @ 11:32PM

While we know there are fanatics out there claiming that cellphones are a tumor's best friend, we're still skeptical of just how dangerous they really are -- but only in that sense. Operating a motor vehicle while keying in an old pal's number certainly isn't a recipe for safe driving, and these acts would probably make protective parents irate if, say, their kid's bus driver was chatting it up while make the rounds. Although we find it quite astounding that cellphone use while operating a school / motor bus isn't already outlawed, it's even more amazing to find that the National Transportation Safety Board is simply "urging" federal and state governments to ban motor coach and school bus drivers from using cell phones except in emergencies. So just as a heads-up, you may want to check with your local school board to make sure John and / or Jane Doe aren't discussing the news while wheeling your offspring around town, as apparently it's still not entirely illegal.

[Via TheWirelessReport]