Title: Electric full flat floor bus's trial production and research of the spread strategy in a public transportation system
Authors: Toshiki Nishiyama
Addresses: Graduate School of System Design and Management, Keio University Collaboration Complex, 4-1-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-8526 Japan
Abstract: We have made an electric full-flat bus as an experiment for the first time in Japan. This is a bus with a combination of eco-design and universal design by the original technology 'integrated platform'. We have revealed what types of electric buses are better for the companies and users through a social survey. We carried out a fact-finding survey intended for bus companies and sent questionnaires to 216 users in eight prefectures including Tokyo metropolitan area. We have classified the results of the survey into three types of electric full-flat buses as dissemination bus models in Japan. Three dissemination electric full-flat bus models are Model A: an urban type of electric full-flat large size bus (front door and middle door), Model B: a suburban type of electric full-flat large size bus (front door and rear door) and Model C: a small size electric full-flat bus (front door - middle door).
Keywords: electric low and full flat floor buses; ELFB; universal design; ecological design; component built-in frames; in-wheel motors; Japan; public transport; eco-design; electric full-flat buses; electric vehicles; vehicle design.
DOI: 10.1504/IJCIS.2015.068612
International Journal of Critical Infrastructures, 2015 Vol.11 No.2, pp.136 - 147
Received: 06 Feb 2013
Accepted: 20 Feb 2013
Published online: 25 Apr 2015 *