Las Vegas bus drivers may keep their eyes on the road, but in a couple of years some of them will no longer have to keep their hands on the wheel.
Ten new buses being built for delivery to the city in 2003 are going to be steered not by people, but by an autopilot system that includes interconnected cameras, computers and motors.
The human drivers of these optically guided buses will still brake, accelerate and shake their heads when someone cuts them off. But they will turn control of their steering wheel over to a camera mounted on the dashboard that is aimed at high-contrast markings painted on a lane on the roadway.
PHOTO: NY TIMES
When the camera and its attached computer record the smallest deviation from those markings, a motor mounted on the steering column will nudge the bus back on course.
Transit planners hope that optical guidance systems like this one, in combination with other innovations, will make bus travel more attractive, providing the speed and convenience of light rail at a fraction of the cost of its development.
"We have had tremendous demands on our transit system because of rapid growth in the valley," said Lee Gibson, assistant general manager of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, an area that includes Las Vegas and its sprawling suburbs.
In the past eight years, use of the public transit system there has grown from 14 million passengers a year to 52 million.
"We wanted a solution that would allow us to respond to our customers but that would not involve significant capital expenses," he said. His group decided to try out the optically guided bus system.
"I hate to call it a bus because it's so much more than that," he said. "It's like a rail system, only at far less cost."
The system chosen for Las Vegas, called Civis, is produced in France by Irisbus, a joint venture of Renault and Fiat's industrial vehicle company, Iveco. The Civis system is already in use in France in two cities, Clermont-Ferrand and Rouen.
The Civis buses are propelled by electric motors mounted on the wheels. A diesel engine runs an alternator that produces the needed electricity.
Because there is no drive shaft or transmission, the cabin floors are flat from the front door to the back window, with no steps that passengers need negotiate.
Instead, the doors open at the level of the curb so that people can enter or exit in groups, as they would on a subway car. Those in wheelchairs can roll onto the bus.
The image processing software linked to the dashboard camera continuously compares the bus' trajectory with the stripes painted on the roadway, looking about 100 feet ahead.
"The system works even if only one-third of the stripes are visible," said John J. Marino, president and chief executive of Irisbus North America, a subsidiary in Saddle Brook, New Jersey.
Before the motor on the steering column makes each adjustment to keep the bus on course, the software checks with sensors on the steering column and on the front axle that measure the angle of the bus' wheels to make sure that the adjustment will work as intended.
For emergencies, there are both visual and audible alarms to warn of malfunctions. And if the driver does take over, the optical system is automatically overridden.
"The great advantage of optically guided buses is their precision," said Mark Reddie, principal planner with Phoenix's Public Transit Department.
The buses can dock within two inches of the curb so that all the doors line up with the platform.
"This precision eliminates the need for wheelchair ramps, a major time delay in service," he said.
The other advantage of optically guided steering is that buses with the technology require a narrower roadway -- typically five feet narrower -- than buses that rely on humans to guide them.
"The smaller right of way means a cost savings in purchasing land, or minimizes the land you have to take away," Reddie said.
The trim paths the buses use make them particularly suited to tight spots like bridges, tunnels, median strips and road shoulders.
In Las Vegas, the buses will share the curb lane only with right-turning traffic. Curbs and platforms are being planned for the bus stops.
"We're using simple concrete platforms, poured like the patio in your back yard," said Gibson.
He added that such construction represented a considerable savings over the steel rails, barrier protections and other expenses of a trolley or other light rail system.
Jeffrey A. Warsh, executive director of the New Jersey Transit Corp, is familiar with the Civis system. "The buses are absolutely gorgeous," he said.
"If you didn't see the rubber wheels, you would think they were very modern light rail vehicles."
Warsh said his group was considering several corridors in New Jersey for bus rapid transit. "It's a matter of where to set aside dedicated right of way," he said. "In many cases you can use the existing shoulder, and you've got your bus rapid transit."
The Civis buses in France, as well as those that will come to Las Vegas, have global positioning satellite equipment that tracks their location.
This information is transmitted to displays at the stops so that riders will know when the next bus is coming.
The French vehicles also have controls that let the drivers change traffic lights ahead to avoid being slowed down.
Joe Calabrese, chief executive of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, said that while he liked the look of the Civis buses, he wanted to know how well they would stand up to the snows of Cleveland.
Marino of Irisbus predicted that snow would not be a problem. "People plow," he said.
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