Public and Commercial Transport

[10mbc]

Thanks! Fortunately things in Cluj-Napoca are improving. Unfortunately Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara and Oradea are more and more just bubles compared to other places. I hope the rest will also improve, even if a slower pace is necessary.

Because of the improvements made to the local transit, I rarely take my car now - only if I need to haul something or go shopping. Usually I take the public transit or just walk.

Talking about grass, I think that my car also likes it

[mickthemaverick]

That looks a very nice example of the C5 you have there. Might I suggest you put some pictures in the C5 Gallery which you can find here.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Potential spanner in the works for plans to reopen Northumberland Railway line to passengers.

Duke of Northumberland branded 'Scrooge McDuke' over £600,000-a-year demands that could scupper railway plan

Well if you have inherited half of Northumberland, you need to make it pay to keep the wolf from the door, and what better than some ancient wayleaves for rail tracks crossing your land.

Regards Neil

[Gibbo2286]

Don't knock the man Neil Network Rail is a State owned company renationalised by John Prescott and his bagman Stephen Byers back in the early Blair years, they in effect want to take his land for nowt and he rightly objects.

[NewcastleFalcon]

The track is already there has been for a hundred years or more, and was established to serve the SE Northumberland Coal industry. Current plans are to reintroduce passenger services, no doubt with new station facilities and a general makeover. I shed no tears for Northumberland Estates on this one, or at all.

REgards Neil

[Gibbo2286]

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... day_email

[NewcastleFalcon]

The City of Montpellier have recently cancelled an order for 50 hydrogen fuel cell buses in favour of battery electric buses, on the grounds of operating costs and infrastructure costs.

https://electrek.co/2022/01/11/city-can ... uses-best/

Michaël Delafosse, president of the municipality, said that they now expect hydrogen buses to be six times more expensive than electric buses because of the cost of operation (via La Tribune and translated from French):

“Hydrogen technology is promising. But we were helped on the investment but not on the operation. However, it would be six times more expensive than with electric buses. So, for the moment, we are giving up on hydrogen buses, we will see in 2030 if hydrogen is cheaper.”

Hydrogen of whatever colour, unless the laws of physics and economics are magically overcome, will always be more expensive than its startpoint processing commodities of electricity for green H₂, or natural gas for blue H₂ and grey H₂.

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Urban eVTOL Air Ports on their way, in the UK and Globally Are they going to happen Are they going to grow and become a normal thing

Big players Hyundai ready and willing to take part and make things happen.

Urban-Air Port secures investment from Hyundai’s air mobility business

REgards Neil

[10mbc]

No, it's not gonna take off As much as I like Hyundai and I think they do mostly good vehicles, this seems to me like a fool's errand. I think air transit for small vehicles is so unsustainable that is not even funny. On the ground, you don't need much space between cars, but in the air, you would need a lot more space between vehicles for safety reasons. In my opinion, it's impossible for us to have flying cars or similar. The best I would say it's still trains (metro, trams, regional and high-speed). I also think trains are cool but, because they've been with us for such a long time, we might just forget how awesome they are.

[NewcastleFalcon]

I think air transit for small vehicles is so unsustainable that is not even funny. On the ground, you don't need much space between cars, but in the air, you would need a lot more space between vehicles for safety reasons. In my opinion, it's impossible for us to have flying cars or similar.

They aren't going to look at all like cars more like drones, like this, and they are already here...and big investment going into them...



bit of a longer watch but a decent coverage of the leading players as of December 2021



Regards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

Just a relevant reminder:

viewtopic.php?p=681534#p681534

[NewcastleFalcon]

Another Aviation story, not Electric Vertical Tale of and Landing (e-VTOL) but Electric Short Take Off and Landing
(e-STOL). Described as a Hybrid, no great details about the Hybrid side of things, or what is planned to fuel it.

Lockheed Martin Ventures Leads Series A Funding Round for Electra.aero

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... _cleartime]

"Short" requires a little bit more space than vertical.

Looks more aircraft-ey than drone-ey and as the headline states getting investment from Lockheed Martin.

Electra Aero website https://www.electra.aero/

REgards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Few stories knocking around the threads about Hydrogen Aviation developments, Hydrogen Dust Carts and here the alternative to the Hydrogen dustcart the battery electric dust cart.

Really for a dustcart in more urban areas, range and charging aren't a problem, and while hydrogen gathers pace in political circles and fossil fuel circles, it really is wasteful energy-wise to produce the stuff.

The electric Dust Cart spotter could well find Casnewydd a happy hunting ground

https://myessentialfleet.co.uk/newport- ... n-vehicle/

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

This week's episode of Bangers and cash featured the sale of one of these


Dairy Crest Ex Unigate Wales And Edwards Rangemaster Milk Float
Unisouth, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Regards Neil

[myglaren]

There's a house that I pass on my way to the shop in the next village that had a pristine one of those on his forecourt. Didn't have a camera with me unfortunately.
Next time I passed he had built a six foot high fence all the way round so it is impossible to see it.