Utrecht

According to the survey results, confidence in driverless technology improved considerably after the test drive.

6.5 Utrecht

Optimizing driving skills and experiences for bus drivers

Driving more sustainably is something that is best learned during and after a bus ride. To support the drivers, Qbuzz introduced the Qdrive program. It provides insights and tools for the bus drivers about driving behavior so that, if necessary, they can adapt their behavior.

In the (electric)buses, the drivers can gain insight into how sustainably they drive. The driver gets feedback on the signals that appear on a display to indicate the sustainability of the bus ride. The display contains a red, orange and a green light. The green light indicates the most fuel-efficient driving style.

In addition to this direct feedback, during a pilot phase, the driving comfort of the passengers and drivers was also measured during the bus ride. This was done with an activity tracker that monitors for example the heart rate and gives feedback from the passengers experiences. The data on sustainable driving and riding comfort during the trip was analysed and can be viewed afterwards in an app on a tablet provided by Qbuzz. The information helps the bus driver to understand how well he or she scores on sustainability and driving comfort. An explanation is given about the analysis and tips are provided to improve both driving sustainability and riding comfort. Qbuzz anonymizes the gathered data to ensure that only the information essential for improving the driving behavior is shown. To further support the driver in addition to the analysis and tips, videos explain how to improve sustainable driving and increase driving comfort.

The described methods guarantee better driving behavior for bus drivers and better experience for the passengers. It also ensures that Qbuzz has fewer CO2 emissions and that the e-bus battery capacity is used optimally.

Qbuzz anonymizes the gathered data to ensure that only the information essential for improving the driving behavior is shown.

6.6 Pécs and Paks

eBussed project partner South Transdanubian Regional Innovation Agency identified one TWG3 related good practice. This is a national level initiative that is called the Green Bus Pilot Demonstration Project. In brief, this practice promotes e-bus electro mobility by demonstrating its benefits, increasing the citizens’ climate awareness and provides opportunities to the bus manufacturers to showcase their vehicles to potential customers.

For the showcase and test of e-buses one month demonstration period is provided in 10 different Hungarian locations (towns and cities with local population more than 25,000 inhabitants) that has the required transport infrastructure.

The practice is considered good: it is a national level initiative that targets the main territorial hubs (mainly county seat towns) with test e-bus vehicles and targeted funding to be provided to local public transport organization to run the tests. By doing so, it impacts citizens, professionals, local municipality managers and decisions makers in favor to e-bus deployment based on the obtained local hands-on experiences. The factual evidence is that 6 successful e-bus tests in 6 cities until April 2021 has been delivered in Hungary.

This practice promotes e-bus electro mobility by demonstrating its benefits, increasing the citizens’ climate awareness and provides opportunities to the bus manufacturers to showcase their vehicles to potential customers.