Urban transport equipment (thematic group 3.4)

This research theme is mainly organised around two sub-themes:

• The bus of the future: The bus is not a new concept but its flexibility and low investment costs ensure that it will remain the backbone of public transport on routes where the hourly traffic is between 100 & 1500 passengers per hour each way. The comfort and performance of buses must be improved, and noise and emissions must be reduced.

• Intermediate systems and tramways: When buses become insufficient (over 1500 riders per hour per direction), we must move on to larger vehicles. Such passenger volumes deserve investment in an exclusive way and guidance that will bring a higher commercial speed and enhanced comfort while limiting delays in the system. The development of several competitive systems, each having its own specific features, can be observed. The TVR, guided by a central rail, is the biggest: it is already operational on an experimental line. The TransLohr also guided by one rail, of a smaller dimension, is designed to go through more constrained sites. Finally, the CIVIS is a type of large articulated bus using optical guidance. On a wider dimension, rail based systems such as tramways continue to be developed in order to reduce costs and to reinforce quality.