Will this BABY BUS grow up to RESCUE mass transit?

[@VopsVops]

What about a combination of big busses and these baby busses? Use the big busses on the frequency corridor and then baby busses in the surrounding areas off the long frequency route as a way to shuttle people to and from the frequency route.

[@L83467]

yeah, like i dont see why these buses cant be part of the fixed route system

[@ej_tech]

I think this solves the "low density suburbia" problem. Have a mini bus going around a low density neighborhood that operates on a schedule that aligns with dropping off passengers onto higher density bus or train routes.

[@DangItshere]

This is LITERALLY what they did in Jakarta!!

[@louisjohnson3755]

I think baby busses could be used for low density suburban areas, I would say below 4000 people per square mile. And then use big buses in the city where it is more dense. But just because we could be using the baby buses for low density suburban areas, I personally think we should work towards upcoming suburban areas so that they can be more dense, part of that would be illegalizing cul de sacs, making apartments legal to build in more places and allowing for smaller lots. also when they do allow for apartments, don’t just say “oh you can have a triplex, but it will have to be the same size as a single family home” allow for those apartments, condos, duplexes triplexes and other forms of housing to be bigger than single family homes, especially be much bigger when it comes to apartments or condos. And also make the suburbs more walkable, with more amenities, sidewalks and every street and grocery store, restaurants and other amenities shouldn’t be separated from housing. Also I would like these baby busses to run on schedules, just like regular buses do and have direct routes. I don’t want it to be like ride share, where you call for a ride and wait and the bus and it goes out of its way to serve people.

[@milliedragon4418]

In the high frequency areas I think they should have a bus lane.

[@snowstar1998]

Services like these are very popular in rural regions in Germany, where normal bus service runs only once an hour or even less. The only problem is the cost, you usualy need additional funding as these never replace bus lines.

[@creativecraving]

😂 Gee! The last time I used the bus system here in the US, the buses only ran every hour in a small city! I can't imagine having a service that would compete with Germany's!

[@TeslaNewsAndh22Vlog]

@@creativecravingmy small town only has one bus line and it stops after 5pm, this bus would great

[@randyreadstheholyquran2342]

Very popular

[@ianhomerpura8937]

Yep. Here in Manila, buses that can accommodate up to 70-80 people only travel among major transit routes. Jeepneys can accommodate only up to 20-25, but since they are smaller, they can navigate through narrower streets and usually arrive every 5-10 minutes. Also, most of the buses and jeepneys here are owned by private companies or cooperatives. They have to apply for a government franchise to be able to operate them.

[@bradzeigler]

4:16 props for the McLovin CA license

[@time2fly2124]

wasnt the one in the movie from hawaii? probably made it california cuz copyright :/

[@mafarnz]

I work as a bus driver, and I remember how challenging it was for me to get my CDL. It was about two months after I hired before I actually started driving for my agency. I understand that’s a steep learning curve for new employees, and it’s also costly for agencies as well. The problem I see with having non-CDL drivers is that a lot of them are really unsafe drivers. It’s one thing for people to be driving unsafe and crazy in their own car, it’s another when they have passengers on board that the driver and the agency are now responsible for. I would sincerely hope that any agency that plans to implement this solution at the very least gives every driver coming in driver training and refresher courses, even if it’s not to the level of a full CDL class.

[@raybod1775]

Agree, lower driving standards is a big mistake. First few accidents will destroy any savings.

[@MegaLokopo]

They could do what a lot of companies do for non cdl drivers. GPS tracking for speed, acceleration, and deceleration. And then maybe other things like cameras in the bus, so they can force their drivers to drive safely or fire them if they don't.

[@Ljcoleslaw]

What a fun hosting style. This is a throwback to the 2000s and 90s local tv I watched growing up

[@mariusvanc]

Yeah, this is totally one of those "reporter out and about the town" vibes.

[@joelhurtado3652]

The voice inflections remind me of Huell Howser's California's Gold, or Ken Kramer's about San Diego.

[@brianj4963]

1) You want a mix of sizes; minivans up to buses; 2) A cutaway that lasts 7 years is a better plan that some wierd one-off thing that is more expensive and no one can work on. 3) The issue with finding bus drivers is the lack of accident free drivers 4) If you have an uber-like app why not run it anyway and use the app to figure out the most efficient method for transit for each rider based on their need? 5) Just run the busses down the main corrode and just use the uber-like app for non-dense routes. 6) If you're using that app why not run it like uber-share?

[@EdwardChan.999]

In Hong Kong we have minibuses that runs fixed routes but can skip stops/ take a shorter path when there's few/ full passengers on board. It also travels much faster than a bus (100kmph vs 80kmph) and can drive through village roads!

[@JShrimpma]

only red mini bus 🤣

[@lancelaw760]

Moreover, minibuses in HK, unlike regular buses, can stop anywhere as long as there are no stopping restrictions on the route (but you need to notify the driver ahead)

[@slugger449]

OMG now I know why the SMRT is so familiar. It's the Homer Simpson gag when he burned his high school diploma. "I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T I mean S-M-A-R-T!"

[@12michaelcox]

The irony of the city providing transportation from 8:30-10:30 - only for Carls Jr to only be open to car-owners at that time is too much lol

[@thespanishinquisiton8306]

A couple points 1. Frequency and speed are not actually tradeoffs, but complimentary. Raising the average speed of a bus means the bus can get to the end of its route and turn around faster. If you have 2 buses and it takes half an hour to drive the route, you can run a bus every half hour. If you can cut that time in half and make the route take 15 minutes, then you end up with twice as many trips and your stops get served every 15 minutes. 2. You mentioned that you think demand response transit would get more efficient as it gets used more, but unfortunately that's not true. Demand makes the efficiency of demand response transit fall by increasing either travel times or wait times, because you either have to drive back and forth a lot or use an inefficient route to go pick people up. Demand response is useful for obtaining 100% coverage with a network or for times when you have very low patronage, but it can't substitute fixed-route transit during busy times or in big dense cities.

[@mindstalk]

Yep, both points are good.

[@MegaLokopo]

What he means is getting from one end to another may take two hours, but if you get rid of half the stops it could be done in 1 hour. You are completely right with your second point. Uber is a great example, wait times go up as demand increases, and now your city is full of empty ubers, and the price skyrockets.

[@Deckzwabber]

There are Sprinter-based buses used on low-volume bus routes everywhere in the Netherlands. Some carry only 8 passengers and can be driven with a regular licence. Some carry 12-15 people and need a CDL. They are used in the evenings and on sundays, or on rural routes that never see a busload worth of passengers even at peak hours. Unlike the big city buses, I haven't yet seen electric mini buses here.

[@Fay7666]

Here in MX, Sprinters are the _high volume_ routes with everyone squishing like sardines lmao

[@jamesrusselleriii8284]

These have been common in Korea for a very long time now, they're called "maeul buses" and generally run rural and suburban routes, connecting them to train stations. A typical bus make and model would be a Hyundai County. Super convenient. I always wondered why America insists on giant buses or no buses at all.

[@PrograError]

It'd be useful if the developments are more TOD oriented, as it is, it's way too car-centric to be much good use. It would be more useful if the suburb's development is a mini nucleus of the larger town, at least it would be more sensible to implement this on a larger scale.

[@skurtov]

I'm assuming probably because of road worthiness or certain crash guarantees. But I agree. Growing up in Russia you'd have small buses or vans that would connect you from the local bus/metro/light rail hub to your apartment block or neighborhood. Routes could be as short as a couple miles and frequency would be very high all run with small passenger vans or 15-20 person capacity cab overs.

[@mindstalk]

"why America insists on giant buses or no buses at all." We don't entirely. I've seen many fixed-route buses that are at least smaller than the typical ones, though still bigger than these. There's like the 'standard' bus that could have 50 seats and has maybe 40, smaller 25-30 seat buses, articulated buses with 50% more length. But given labor costs, I'd guess that buying really small buses just doesn't save that much overall, while the bigger bus gives you reserve capacity for expansion, and also peak periods. A transit agency has to plan for rush hour, not average ridership. And there are probably standardization savings from having all the same kind of bus, rather than a mix of big and small.

[@PraxZimmerman]

Our small farm town had 3 of these that you would just call and ask for a ride (couldn't justify full busses for 14,000 people (yes shut up that's small by California standards)). During peek times you might be waiting 30-45 minutes so most kids just rode bikes, but for those who couldn't it was an amazing resource.

[@Ndragonawa]

The baby bus solves the "hurr durr too many empty busses" complaint imo

[@ayoutubechannelname]

It's a legitimate complaint though, both economically AND environmentally.

[@mindstalk]

@@ayoutubechannelname Not necessarily a legitimate complaint. Buses could be full at rush hour, and "empty" at other times, but it wouldn't make sense to be buying additional small buses just to avoid the mid-day "emptiness". Also, the people complaining about 'empty' buses rarely complain about empty parking lots, or cars being driven 'empty', or roads being 'empty' in the evening.

[@ayoutubechannelname]

​@@mindstalk The bus route nearest me is mostly empty in the suburbs and gets full the closer it is to downtown. This is byproduct of what that route mostly serves. Other nearby bus routes that don't connect to downtown are near empty at all times of the day.

[@s.n.9485]

@@mindstalk "Also, the people complaining about 'empty' buses rarely complain about empty parking lots, or cars being driven 'empty', or roads being 'empty' in the evening." lol, people complain about that all the time. there are several youtube videos dedicated to those problems.

[@mindstalk]

@@s.n.9485 Different people making those complaints.

[@PJM257]

0:24 Buses have been mostly automatic since the 90s.

[@eaglescout1984]

The local transit system started a micro-transit pilot as well. But, they didn't get fancy baby buses, just minivans.

[@blanketstatment]

I am an American living in Moldova currently. They have a similar system called rutieras. They drive through towns and connect towns together. There is a central hub in the capital, and it spiders out from there. It has it's quirks, but with decent roads I can see this being a good idea.

[@dan_youtube]

Unfortunately those also stop services pretty early so it's not practical to celebrate ziua Vinului then take rutiera home. But have you noticed how much better the street lights work? Rob should do a segment about that!

[@creativecraving]

Similar to what? The video mentions 3-5 different ideas for how a bus system could be done.

[@highpath4776]

Generally found in UK with smaller buses costs (inc cheaper drivers) up 130percent, mileage up 200percent , passengers up 150percent , profits up about 17percent. (back in the 1980s) they didnt really take passengers away from most big buses as it was more additional passengers to the existing services that wouldnt have travelled/gone by car.

[@gingermany6223]

This type of private mini bus is very common in Turkey so I can see how they took this idea and made it into an export.

[@OFFICIALDJFLASHBACK]

YOU'RE IN MY CITY!!! I work at Allan Hancock College and we've been told that these buses will help out with a route from the depot to AHC (even though it's down the street from the depot / 5 min walk) but I could see this helping many students who take night classes. Thanks for another great video Rob and hope Santa Maria treated you well! :)

[@sblack53]

0:28 Matt Vasgersian approves of this transit agency’s name.

[@AlMcpherson79]

Here in the UK where I lived twenty years ago they already had these. They were basically a Ford Transit in bus form, except not specifically a Ford Transit, but rather a purpose built and had, well, less then ten seats and so was covered by normal car licence. They'rre called... mini-busses.

[@sexyshadowcat7]

Yeah these have actually been around for like a hundred years (it's no different than a large van). In typical California fashion, they think they've invented it.

[@kevwwong]

They're called a mini-bus in Hong Kong as well and rather ubiquitous. If you're going to the far side of the island it might actually be your only public transport option.

[@Croz89]

Though they aren't necessarily covered by normal car licences, you still need to get a PSV licence on top of your car licence if you are driving it "for hire or reward" i.e. you're being paid to do it. To be fair, the UK licencing system is probably a bit bloated and inefficient compared to some other countries, there are quite a lot of different licences and it can be rather confusing to work out exactly what you need as there are detailed restrictions, some of which depend on *when* you got your licence (generally the later you got it the more restrictions you have).

[@steemlenn8797]

Yes, those exist in many places, but contrary to this one they don't have e.g. the width of the door and the space for a wheelchair.

[@Croz89]

@@steemlenn8797 Some minibuses do have wheelchair lifts using the rear doors, but you do have to fold some of the seats away (or remove them) to get a wheelchair on. They are much slower than a ramp though, so tend to only be used for charter services.

[@jameshamilton2480]

"Not a replacement for any type of vehicle" 😆Rob immediately shows this the predecessor to this type of vehicle.

[@Goatcha_M]

No Predecessor? Nothing like this before? Twaddle. It's literally just an electric minibus with low floors for disabled access and minibuses have been around since the 1920s. This Turkish company isn't the only one making low floor minibuses, check out Tribus for example and Everyone is going electric these days despite its massive drawbacks. And you know what also can take 8-10 people home after hours? A Maxi Taxi, been around since 1978.

[@bugs3483]

What are some massive drawbacks for this as an electric vehicle? I would think that a small catchment area, usually less maintenance, and less noise, especially if it is going into residential areas are pretty good advantages here.

[@creativecraving]

Maxi Taxi? Never heard of it. Being "around" since '78 would mean that its _around._ It's not around where I am. Haven't seen it in any pop culture, either.

[@drdewott9154]

@@bugs3483 Yeah IDK what they mean either with drawbacks. Electric vehicles may be more expensive upfront but theyre much cheaper to operate, especially if you have affordable electricity, and if you have solid amounts of renewable power in the area then thats both good for the planet and the wallet.

[@Goatcha_M]

@@bugs3483 Range and Battery Lifespan.

[@jordansean18]

I am so smrt! 😅 I was hoping you'd make that joke haha

[@4tarobyte]

I want these everywhere!! honestly, seeing them want to make them available for on-call afterhours trips is SO heartening as someone who hates driving and never wants to own a car, yet is also a night owl. I’ve even missed out on cool jobs before due to the hours not being public transit-friendly :/

[@FullLengthInterstates]

Not being accessible to the large pool of car less applicants is why those "cool jobs" pay more. This on call bus will have similar dynamics to paratransit: long wait times, limited service area, and very expensive subsidies. Maybe fine if all the coworkers are also unreliable, but if it pays well enough for people to own cars then management might have higher standards for attendance. The solution for car less commuting in off-hours and low density areas is safe bike lanes.

[@Equulai]

5:09 I wouldn't say that this kind of bus has never existed. Over here in Germany, there are companies that turn Mercedes Sprinters into mini buses. The platform is apparently called Sprinter City 75. Good to see that there are more companies jumping onto that bandwagon and providing more options.

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

Was gonna say we have a similar concept here in America. Only we take incomplete truck chassis and convert them to buses

[@MegaLokopo]

People forget a bus driver does more than drive a bus, and a door man does more than open a door.

[@tissuepaper9962]

door man is one of those lost professions that really needs to make a comeback. talk about building a sense of community in an urban environment.

[@MegaLokopo]

@@tissuepaper9962 Yea, sadly companies were forced to get rid of them all, when consumers started becoming so much more budget conscious than they used to be. Every time you bought a hotel room at a hotel without a door man because it was 5 dollars cheaper, you were voting for no more door man. If everyone were to have paid that 5 dollars more to stay at a hotel room at a hotel with door men, they would never have gone away.

[@carlschiel4754]

1:38 Public Beatings? 😮

[@TransNeingerian]

Bring them back!

[@koobs4549]

I can’t look at it without thinking about Homer Simpson. “I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T… …I mean, s-m-a-r-t”😂

[@zoicon5]

As soon as I saw the mini bus I said to myself "that's a dolmuş". Somehow I wasn't surprised that it's a Turkish company making them.

[@nathanbasset]

Mr. Anguiano was a wonderful speaker, it seems like they really care about their jobs!

[@davidp2888]

A livestream on Friday night and a new video on Monday. Rob’s spoiling us!

[@Nhkg17]

A similar bus has been running in my town for quite some time. The only difference is that it uses natural gas as fuel instead of batteries. It serves areas in the middle of the city where normal buses don't go (mostly denser housing with narrow streets).

[@SayNoToDemocide1]

3:57 Correction, more than 15 seats and you'll need a Commercial Driver's License.

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

That is of course counting the driver

[@hsngm33]

KARSAN!! TURKEY MENTIONED! These have been extremely common vehicles here for a long time and its very interesting to see them in America too.

[@aydinsengun5088]

🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷TURKİYE MENTIONED 🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷 WHAT İS ECONOMY 🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅

[@AcrobotMovies]

We've had these in Gdańsk, Poland since 2022 on a route that serves the city centre for these who cannot walk there (narrow streets, not many passengers since everyone else just walks there) and they seem to work okay for that purpose.

[@xxBrokenDreams666xx]

this is such a cool concept. hope more cities are able to adopt this in-between solution, especially for vulnerable populations like our elderly or alternatively-abled neighbors.

[@Monke_Editz191]

5:16 Three words: Arboc Specialty Vehicles.

[@NarNarHD]

I love this channel, don't ever stop uploading Rob!

[@ianhomerpura8937]

This is exactly what other countries have, along with trains and buses. Since they're smaller, they can navigate through narrow roads as well as park faster. Great solution to that perpetual last-mile problem.

[@martjen6434]

sounds like it could be used in smaller towns that would be impractical to run the larger buses

[@littlekirby6]

I could see these being very useful and complementary where I live. We have a regional bus transit service, but it's still pretty rural so it's almost a necessity to own a car here. These would be nice to allow people to request a pickup and shuttle them to the actual main bus stops

[@TransitAndTeslas]

6:04 OMG, This is why I love Road Guy Rob!

[@DeltaDemon1]

This is weird. In Ottawa, we've got a relatively small population compared to cities in the US and we've got service to approximately midnight. They've got service to 8:30. Most people who work nights work till 9:00 (stores close at 9:00). How can you stop at 8:30? It needs to go to at least 10:00 so people can get home from work and from the early movie.

[@finn3494]

I could be wrong, but I think a big reason Americans don't ride the bus even if it is available is the mindset that it is there for people who don't have another option. I can say first-hand moving from the US to the UK, it was a learning curve for me to consider public transit as a viable option.

[@alohadave]

It's a bit of a chicken and egg problem. The transit has its service hours and people work their schedules around that. If the transit offers extended hours it takes time for riders to adjust to it. In Boston, they've done limited late night tests, but takeup is poor because a six month test means that people don't try it because it's temporary. If there is a commitment to later service and the city/transit gives it time to grow, it can work.

[@irasponsibly]

Ottawa - 990k Santa Maria - 110k "Relatively" small.

[@mindstalk]

Canada simply invests more in transit, especially off-peak frequency and service (which then gives people the confidence to not have a car). Canadian cities have higher ridership than similar US cities. There's a vicious circle: bad service means low ridership which 'justifies' bad service.

[@LimitedWard]

It's an interesting concept. I'm not sure how well it will work as public transit though for a couple reasons. For starters, drivers don't need a CDL to operate it. While that's a great cost saving measure, now you'll have potentially underqualified and undertrained operators entrusted to safely get a dozen passengers to their destinations safely. Hopefully they're still offering extra training before starting service to account for this. Second, and more importantly, the model of "pickup and drop off anywhere" goes against the principles of good public transit. What makes public transit valuable isn't just it's ability to get you to your destination. What makes it valuable is also it's ability to get you there at a predictable time. When every passenger has their own custom start and stop point, you lose any ability to predict when you'll reach your destination. For late night service, that may not be a huge deal, but I suspect many will opt for a taxi/Uber after one or two bouts of waiting for a bus that never arrives on time. On an unrelated note, I'm not sure I agree with the notion of determining public transit service based on ridership data. Ridership is a function of the quality of transit service, not the other way around. Of course ridership will taper off towards the evening if you aren't already providing late night bus service, because how else will those riders get home? When deciding on where to increase service, we need to shift to a new metric. One which looks at where people need to go and asks what would take the largest chunk of cars off the road.

[@annoyedok321]

A CDL is required because of the added difficulty of driving a longer bus, so it's a wash. The benefit of reducing the difficulty of the job comes with the benefits of a larger and cheaper labor pool. "the principles of good public transit" are based on a antiquated system that existed before the invention of internet and smartphones. Connecting more locations and people to traditional public transportation is never a bad idea unless you're a NIMBY who doesn't want the bus in their neighborhood.

[@mindstalk]

@@annoyedok321 No, LimitedWard is correct. The problems of good transit service are fundamental ones of geometry, not solvable by tech. We had similar service well before the Internet: "Dial-A-Ride" and paratransit and variations on flexible transit. A fixed route bus is inherently more predictable and efficient in time and labor than something flexible. Microtransit is great when it comes to your door to pick you up, but every pickup and dropoff between that and your destination is significantly slowing you down, to an unpredictable level.

[@bbgun061]

Most transit systems in the USA just don't know what they're doing. Where I live the buses only come once an hour, and depending on the changes required it can take 2-3 hours to replace 20-30 minutes of driving.

[@mindstalk]

@@bbgun061 Or they know what they're doing but have been given limited resources and a political mandate to maximize coverage.

[@annoyedok321]

@@mindstalk No routes available, no times available, walking 10 blocks to a stop, can slow you down a lot more. Dial-A-Ride systems for paratransit is just a taxi system with buses. It's not integrated into a more complex software algorithm that can do more. I'm not suggesting a one size fits all, but rather adaptive logistics. I live in a city with 200k and our downtown bus can often be seen driving around empty. These short buses can run set routes at peak hours and than transition to taxi service or expanded bus stop models during off peak with park and wait being a possibility to save fuel and wear. Pre-paying for trips the day or week before allows for way better logistical information than trying to guess the amount of people who will show up at a location. Adaptive pricing can account for the improved service or to increase usage when it's needed. The airline industry is changing from the hub and spoke model because they found smaller planes flying direct was actually more profitable. People like trains for the reasons you suggest, but they don't like buses for the same reason. Operating a bus like a train is crippling the potential.

[@kennethjeong8054]

This is a great idea. I used to have a Class B Commercial license and could drive buses. This licensing requirement is a barrier. I also know of other organizations who have abandoned full size buses in favor of these 10 passenger vans/mini buses (like churches or non-profits) for the same reasons.

[@Chedring]

I can see this being very useful for smaller cities or bigger towns looking to dip their feet into public transit. Mine invested in bus lines but most of them are very empty. A few of these would have been better if they were available 10 years ago.

[@ianchissy]

Reminds me of the little buses that run up and down Owen Valley from Reno down to Lancaster. There’s zero alternative other than hitching and it’s a critical route for a small group of people.

[@Rokomarn]

As a past bus driver those interior lights really should be red or white and only on the driver side

[@Zenit_Bourg]

KARSAN JEST! I saw them when i visited Istanbul and can't stop thinking about them!!!

[@willking4512]

It is interesting to me that this is a "new" concept. When I lived in Central America a decade ago, they had rapiditos (9-15 passenger vans, usually packed 12-20) that would run the same routes as the normal bus but much more frequently. Once they were full, they would run to the next stop someone had requested without stopping along the way, and then drop people off. It was extremely convenient. These could fill a similar niche. These could also be used to prototype routes. If you are hearing that you might have demand for a route, send out some flyers and commit to running a route serving the area for 6 months. Survey people and adjust where the route runs to try to get some better ridership. If capacity grows enough, add an extra mini-bus or convert to a full size route.

[@mikefromthebend]

First, I have to say I love your content... Gonna head of to Patreon to make a donation! Second, the only autonomous vehicles we may have in the near future are those on 100% predictable and controlled routes. And the minute there is construction or a problem they are hosed. It's so disappointing we've been autonomous self driving vehicles for a decade and all we really have is glorified cruise control.

[@szymex22]

Waymo exists though

[@mindstalk]

We have autonomous vehicles -- grade separated trains! Like Vancouver SkyTrain, among other automated metro services. Train every 3 minutes.

[@gb9727]

I like the look of these buses

[@nusbaumtanner]

Seems like it might even be good for smaller areas which dont really have a need for the larger buses but still want to get started in public transit with a good solution.

[@YodaPagoda]

When I saw "SMRT" I immediately thought of Homer Simpson! I saw the thumbnail, and thought this was a minibus commonly used in Asia and the Middle East, like Toyota's Coaster or Mitsubishi's Rosa. Obviously this is a newer technology, it's harder to gauge how efficient these vehicles are, what their battery capacities are, and whether or not they will last as long as their diesel powered big brothers. The struggle to find operators for transit isn't just the lack of people wanting to drive, very few people want the potential bodily harm that results from operating these vehicles. It took Portland's Trimet about a year to install plexiglass barriers after several operators were attacked by non-paying passengers. That's why I'm working in manufacturing rather than driving a bus!

[@pcatful]

What I liked was the "Bemo" system in Bali. Although served by anything from vans to pick up trucks, and mostly unregulated, you just had to stand on a corner for a few minutes and a Bemo would come by. Usually there was a conductor who leaned out and shouted where they were going. It was painless, fast, and affordable. You could get basically anywhere on the island.

[@paulaitix77]

hence telsa's robovan

[@Bloor25]

YRT which is north of Toronto also uses this system in the more rural areas

[@ksuen106]

We need this on the US. Growing up in Hong Kong we had mini busses (less seats/a little more expensive than big bus) but it was much faster, and there are on-demand stops (just like Cancun cargo vans) you let the driver know you want to get off, and they’ll drop you out off at a safe place.

[@dennis2376]

Interesting bus. It will be interesting once it gets put into service to see how well it works. Thank you and have a great day.

[@Heimbasteln]

We have similar buses in my (german) neigborhood, they only operate on a small bus route through the neigborhood and connect to other bus stops where normal buses (also some electric) stop. They are also electric and even less wide, but a little bit longer. They are the Sigma 7 from Mellor. My city with 250k people also has service throughout the night, with less bus routes than during the day, instead the night routes take circuitous routes and try to capture most areas. While our bus system isn't bad, especially not compared to the US, I prefer to just bike everywhere instead, which is also much safer than in the US because of better bike paths.

[@creativecraving]

Very well-edited video! The format was entertaining, and the content was fresh. Thanks!

[@phishE482]

I want one of these for recreational use.

[@Flourish38]

We have something like this in the Seattle area! We have little mini-buses called “Dial-A-Ride Transit” (DART) which are small buses that do run a route normally, but they also have a designated service area where you can have them just come pick you up on the way! They’re a great accessibility feature and a good way to cover a wide area with low demand.

[@3ffrige]

Awww! These busses are super cute!

[@louisjohnson3755]

For low density suburban areas, I personally think we should work towards upcoming suburban areas so that they can be more dense, part of that would be illegalizing cul de sacs, making apartments legal to build in more places and allowing for smaller lots. also when they do allow for apartments, don’t just say “oh you can have a triplex, but it will have to be the same size as a single family home” allow for those apartments, condos, duplexes triplexes and other forms of housing to be bigger than single family homes, especially be much bigger when it comes to apartments or condos. And also make the suburbs more walkable, with more amenities, sidewalks and every street and grocery store, restaurants and other amenities shouldn’t be separated from housing. Also I would like these baby busses to run on schedules, just like regular buses do and have direct routes. I don’t want it to be like ride share, where you call for a ride and wait and the bus and it goes out of its way to serve people.

[@szymex22]

cul de scas are great so you dont have ppl taking shortcuts through housing areas, just need some passages so that pedestrians can go through the cul de sac

[@louisjohnson3755]

@@szymex22 yes that is a good idea, we could have cul de sacs to slow down cars so that they aren’t taking short cuts through neighborhoods, while still giving pedestrians access to other streets and roads so that they could get to the bus stop just as fast as if there wasn’t any cul de sacs. I think we could also do other kinds of traffic calming, like what they did in Fulton, Minneapolis. I don’t know what it’s called but there is an example of it on west 48th st and zenith Ave, and west 48th st and Ewing ave in Fulton Minneapolis. I would say that kind of street lay out would be better since it makes navigation easy for pedestrians since it is a still a simple grid, but connecting cul de sacs with walking and cycling paths is a good idea too

[@mindstalk]

@@louisjohnson3755 "modal filtering" is a phrase you want to look up, if you don't know it. Can put filters in street grids so active transport can go through but cars can't; cars can access all areas but not go through residential areas. Though for efficient minibus routes, might need smart bollards or barriers that the public vehicles can command to let them through.

[@Optopolis]

My city of under 100k has cutoff vans and "baby buses" that act as microtransit. As far as I have noticed and understand, the "baby buses" typically follow the main buses but on the off-half-hour when the normal bus wouldn't be there. They *seem* to primarily be used for paratransit and stuff like that, but I'm actually not sure, though, if just anyone can hop onto those. I think my city's "baby buses" are even smaller though, as these look like modern ford or chrysler vans but with similar features as those seen in this video. I'm gonna have to learn more about them...

[@mindstalk]

"if just anyone can hop onto those." Look into it! That is a pattern of flexible transit some places use. "Route deviation" buses that follow a fixed route but can make detours, probably up to 3/4 mile. Faster service for the disabled than paratransit. Letting the general public use them means more passengers to pay for it, though also more potential delays.

[@Amarušan_10]

They could have used passenger vans anyways. It is not uncommon to see vans with one or two doors with ramp access in smaller european towns being used for transit. It is still a van but with added doors in the middle and the back and shorter ones can still be operated with a car licence. there are also electric versions of them. most common ones are from mercedes. this is still a good concept.

[@williamford7013]

Drove these on Martha's Vineyard over the summer. Worked great for narrow islands roads, and less "busy" routes. If they can increase the range, I could see these catching on elsewhere

[@glike2]

RoboVan competition. Partner with Uber and Lyft

[@aydinsengun5088]

I want to add to this that the Karsan Jet isnt a new concept in Turkey (where Karsan is based)! These kinds of buses are called Minibüs and are generally privately owned and operated, and run on routes in conjunction with regular bus services (very similar to another smaller format of transit in Turkey called a Dolmuş). They can stop frequently along their entire route and can drop people off whenever. Some municipalities have dedicated stops built for them but you can also flag them down like taxis. This concept has been around for ages and im so glad to see it coming go the states! In Turkey, you'll always pay with cash upon boarding or just after youve gotten to your seat, as such its a very common to just hand your fair forward to the passenger in front of you. The small size is in part due to the amount of people they carry but having a small size and high maneuverability is important on Turkish roads.

[@thastayapongsak4422]

America is rediscovering van/minibus lol

[@brianbuddy2ACP]

Woah, Rob went close to me. I'm not saying exactly where I live, but I will say this. It's close to Santa Maria, and I go there a lot, because it has places that my hometown doesn't have. Despite being a transit fan and living close, I've never heard of these.

[@samtibbitts]

When I lived in Russia for a couple years about 20 years ago almost all the busses were 7-10 passenger vans. Each route ran several busses so you never had to wait long for a bus

[@davefultz5442]

Nailed it again man!!! Absolutely love all of your content thank you for doing what you do!!!

[@jonathandevries2828]

Alternate thumbnail: the baby bus with a speach bubble saying: "I'm just a baybee!"

[@CCUrbanist]

Surprised to see this in a relatively small town like Santa Maria. May have to go check it out.

[@bluetheta]

Our transit agency need these for the mini-bus routes (baby fixed routes) and for the van pool (ordinary people are drivers within the pool group - they're vanpools right now). I would be sure to use them if the agency reinstate the route in my town (stop is just literally 100 ft. from me).

[@nationalist818]

They try this with private mini buses in Ventura Ca, (about the same as Santa Maria in many ways) they called them trolleys, no one used them, I thought they were great.

[@animemayonnaisesalad6055]

There is a system where they use a combination of the straight line route, and some mini buses to give coverage and go from the main line to the neighborhoods

[@dappergander]

These remind me of the Orion II minibuses built back in the 1980s & 90s. They were low-floor wheelchair accessible as well. Could hold 18 - 26 passengers (according to Orion II's wikipedia page).

[@audiencesmember]

Cool stuff, Rob!

[@CKwoi]

Smrt means death in Slovenian. Reminds me of the Ford Kuga car back in the day, with "Kuga" meaning "plague".

[@MrSir-wp3fr]

Road Guy Rod making my Monday great

[@kiersplat]

Run these on fixed route local service! Small first/last-mile connection loops for neighborhoods that connect to larger bus routes!

[@E4tHam]

This is so interesting! It seems effectively like UberPool/Lyft Line except more seats, and subsidized by the city of Santa Maria.

[@josephhouk6703]

I'm having flashbacks. I drove a RAM ProMaster 1500 conversion from REV Collins with a low floor ramp for about two-three years for our school district. The major issue was that it was essentially a Fiat Ducato "light commercial vehicle" (delivery van), and many of the parts were only available through Europe.

[@darioprime]

As a resident of the Santa Maria valley i can't help but believe buying seven regular buses would've been a better purchase given they are only going to run these at night and i haven't heard a thing about these locally

[@QuebecFietser]

the province of quebec is doing smth similar with a quebec made design, they plan to use it for local transit as well as DRT and paratransit. they call it the Letenda Electrip

[@milliedragon4418]

Yes, I've seen those little buses before. They're quite cool. It was like some sort of bus motor coach convention. There's a person on a channel and forget what his name of his channel is. But yes I've seen those before. I actually quite like the blue LED light. It kind of made me feel like I was in a little bit of a party zone. I would have wanted that dark driver to keep that sucker on. LOL 💃🕺🪩 It's also soothing for the eyes 😎

[@Park_Place]

Midibuses are common in other countries, especially Mexico. Alongside "combi" van shuttles, they're excellent for rural areas or smaller routes where a full-size bus isn't necessary. A small suburb of like 100k would greatly benefit from one of these, but they're less efficient when it comes to mass transit. One bendy bus would probably carry more passengers while using less space and probably costing less.

[@mindstalk]

A bendy bus could carry the passengers of 10 of those vans. But you need a full CDL, plus extra training for dealing with articulated buses, they don't fit on small streets, and on these routes you don't _have_ that many passengers.

[@theswaff699]

Local transit systems around me use for Ford Transits as buses, granted they don't run regular routes and are by appoint or carpool taxis, mainly used by elderly and disabled peoples

[@danieldukhcharan2676]

What a fabulous idea.

[@pvtbuddie]

You left out a major use for this: Small towns can now suport several bus routes, and on at least an hourly schedule.

[@Dlf212]

When two buses love each other very very much ....

[@shidokan98]

The Philippines already have this for years, it’s called a Jeepney.

[@drdewott9154]

Sounds like an episode of microtransit and microbuses. Both options are being explored here in Denmark where I'm from. Long comment just fyi but these things are quite relevant to a lot of transit developments here right now. We have had attempts at microtransit before like several cases of Telebuses in the past. Currently a system is rolled out nationwide called Flextur/Plustur but it is awful. It uses separate fare systems from the buses, has to be booked 2 hours in advance, and is super unreliable, plus goes address to address so that causes too many stressful situations for both passengers and operators. Its basically a worse taxi, giving you zero flexibility and zero affordability. One part of the country is testing a modern microtransit solution that can be booked on a 30 minute notice or less, using Uber-like systems (heck I was able to book one on just an 8 minutes notice when trying it), and comes and go from normal fixed bus stops which makes everything easier, even if you have to walk a little farther. Its mostly intended for rural areas that otherwise would only get a few buses per day, but even just 1 or 2 Microtransit buses could replace several bus routes. So far it seems a success and if it stays that way, the agency doing the trial (which is the largest in Denmark) wants to expand it into operating tenders ASAP. Vehicles like this one in the video, the Karsan eJest would be a good fit for it, but you couldnt drive that with a regular drivers license here. Our regulations are a little stricter. A regular drivers license (B license) only allows you to drive a vehicle that has at most seats for 9 people onboard, including the driver, and a weight of 3.5 tonnes at most. Above that weight you need a C license which is for trucks, and if you want to drive vehicles for more than 8 passengers you have to take either a D license for buses, or a D1, which allows for minibuses with up to 16 passengers and length of at most 8 meters. Though similar vehicles are quite common in some parts of Europe. I for instance saw some myself last year on the Azores in Ponta delgada. Vehicles like this are often used in older European cities as their small and nimble designs lets them go through narrow winding streets and around tight corners to serve areas that normal buses simply couldn't get to. Certainly one thing is for sure. Here in Denmark we'd never buy additional smaller vehicles just for late night or weekend service like Santa Maria is doing. That would be considered fiscally irresponsible, since it'd be cheaper to just operate the existing large vehicles for longer hours. Still it could work if you had some other duty to use such small buses for in the daytime on weekdays. Something which could only be done then. I know in Finland they have some stuff done this way with Schoolbus duties done using such minibuses. In that case they use them for schoolbus routes during the weekdays and then for regular transit service during weekends when there's lower demand and its more economical to use a minibus than a full sized 40ft bus. Still there are talks here of having transit services with vehicles that regular people could drive. Not as paid drivers though but as volunteers. Basically volunteer buses, where the transit provider would allow community cooperatives access to a vehicle and booking/timetable systems, and this volunteer cooperative would then be able to operate the vehicle to serve their community. Its largely based off the Dutch approach with theri Buurtbuses, which have operated for over 40 years. But I have my doubts to this. Also regarding the Karsan people mentioning autonomous stuff, they're actually not bluffing. Kinda. They already have a version of this available with their slightly larger eAtak model, which is basically like a 30ft bus. Theyre mostly selling these to places that are doing trials with autonomous operation under supervision and is the largest autonomous bus on the western market afaik. Still it needs a driver present for safety regulations. But one has already been running for quite a while now in the Norwegian city of Stavanger, and Gothenburg in City is gonna start a trial route of their own with the same buses next year. Either way I wouldn't really count on autonomous vehicles at least not yet. They can do some things on their own sure, but the tech has largely stagnated and roads simply have too many variables for computersystems to effectively process. Like roadworks, pedestrians, road wear, other drivers behavior, etc.

[@danthewildbirdman]

I'd be down to drive the mini bus but IDK if I could handle grumpy customers. Tho those shiny gilligs 😍

[@TheSullie1]

An interesting concept, however I think that it would be better to use these buses as just standard fixed route buses late nights.