Because of our early experiences with school buses, as well as the widespread availability of buses as public transportation, buses can have a wide variety of individual associations. Also, buses may simply be stages for other kinds of dream scenarios (i.e., they do not necessarily have a symbolic meaning). In and of themselves, and especially in contrast to more individualized means of transportation such as automobiles, buses may represent collective action, or even going along with the crowd.
System and Peripheral Buses |
---|
This illustration shows how chips, memory and peripherals in a PC interconnect via the system bus (top) and peripheral buses (AGP, PCI and PCI Express). |
a public motor vehicle intended for carrying nine or more passengers. The first buses appeared at the beginning of the 20th century and by World War I were already in comparatively wide use. Regular bus transit routes in Moscow were inaugurated in 1924.
Buses are classified according to their service as urban, suburban, intercity (tourist), local, and general purpose. Urban buses have a passenger area with several doors for entry and exit, a limited seating capacity, a wide central aisle, and spacious “collector” platforms near the doors. Urban buses are capable of quick acceleration, which ensures a comparatively high average speed despite frequent stops. Suburban buses have a smaller center aisle and collector platforms, resulting in a greater seating capacity. In the passenger area of intercity (tourist) buses, hard or soft (sleeping) seats are installed. Equipped with heaters and ventilators, some of these buses also have a cloakroom, refrigerator, and rest room. The luggage space is located beneath the floor of the passenger area. The design of such buses must provide for high-speed travel. Local buses are used for carrying passengers along regional and interregional routes, primarily in rural areas. These buses are provided with strengthened bodies and working parts, with increased road clearance, and sometimes with drives on two or three axles.
The capacity of the bus depends on its overall dimensions, primarily its length. The length classifications accepted in the USSR are 5 meters, very small; 7.5 meters, small; 8.5 and 9.5 meters, medium; 11 meters, large; 12 meters, very large; and 16.5 meters, articulated. A variation of plus or minus 0.5 meters in length is permitted in design. Articulated buses consist of two sections, connected by flexible joints, which have a common passenger compartment. Double-decker and split-level buses have found some use in urban transportation abroad. The capacity of 7.5–meter buses varies from 35 to 40 people and of 12–meter buses from 110 to 120 people. Articulated buses can accomodate up to 160 people. The lower limit of maximum speed is established according to the buses’ classifications: 70 km/hr for urban, 80 km/hr for suburban and local, and 100 km/hr for intercity. Operating requirements also dictate that, depending on classification and length, the acceleration time from zero to the indicated maximum speed must not exceed 40–55 seconds for urban, 50–65 seconds for suburban, and 70–90 seconds for intercity buses (see Table 1).
Table 1. Technical characteristics of some bus models in use in the USSR | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Capacity | Power rating | ||||||
Bus | Overall length (meters) | seated | total at peak hour | Maximum speed (km/hr) | kilowatts | horsepower | Fuel consumption (liters/100 km) |
* Articulated bus | |||||||
RAF-977D .............. | 4.9 | 10 | — | 110 | 55 | 75 | 12.0 |
KAVZ-651 ............ | 6.2 | 20 | 24 | 70 | 52 | 70 | 22.0 |
PAZ-652 .............. | 7.2 | 23 | 42 | 80 | 66 | 90 | 21.0 |
PAZ-672 ................ | 7.3 | 23 | 45 | 80 | 85 | 115 | 20.5 |
LIAZ-158V .............. | 9.0 | 32 | 60 | 65 | 80 | 109 | 37.0 |
LiAZ-677 ............... | 10.5 | 25 | 80(110) | 70 | 132 | 180 | 45.0 |
LAZ-695E ............... | 9.2 | 32 | 55 | 75 | 110 | 150 | 36.0 |
LAZ-698 ................ | 9.7 | 26 | 67(92) | 76 | 132 | 180 | 35.0 |
lkarus-180* (Hungary) .... | 16.5 | 35 | 119(172) | 67 | 147 | 200 | 24.4 |
The body may be of truck or coach type, the latter being more prevalent. The coach body usually serves as the load-bearing structure on which the engine, transmission box, and front and rear axles are mounted.
The engine may be mounted in front, in the center under the floor of the passenger area, or in the rear. The drive is usually through the rear axle. Some very high-maneuverability buses have four-wheel drive.
Automatic transmissions are being more frequently installed in urban and suburban buses. Buses with conventional transmissions and engines mounted centrally or in the rear employ remote control of the clutch and transmission. Buses are beginning to be equipped with compressed-air suspensions using rubber-ply bellows which, in addition to a smoother ride, help maintain an even floor and footboard level regardless of load. Medium and large buses are equipped with power steering, which substantially reduces the force required to turn the steering wheel. The foot brake mechanism to the front and rear axles of medium and large buses is pneumatic or air-over-hydraulic; the axles as a rule have separate systems. Very small buses are equipped with hydraulic brakes; small buses have compressed-air or vacuum-boosted hydraulic brakes. Some buses, especially intercity ones, employ decelerator brakes.
(bus bar), a copper, aluminum, or, less often, steel electrical conductor, usually rectangular or circular in cross section, used to handle large currents, for example, in switchgear.