public transportation

In what feels like news straight out of 2016, a Hyperloop testing facility in Europe has completed the longest-ever vacuum capsule journey. The milestone could bring this oft-forgotten promise of high-speed transport one step closer to reality.

A new Sky Train test track in Southern China has debuted the world's first maglev transit system built using permanent magnets instead of electromagnets. It's capable of keeping its underslung carriages suspended indefinitely without a power supply.

Faster than a jet plane and about half the price. Yes, it's another hyperloop-style vacuum-tube train – this time from Canada. TransPod says it's started preliminary construction on a tube that'll fire you from Calgary to Edmonton in 45 minutes.

Last year, Swedish electric boat maker Candela announced plans to launch a foiling passenger ferry called the P-30. Now in the final design phase, the craft has been renamed the P-12 Shuttle and will hit the water as a foiling catamaran.

The UK's GKN Aerospace is looking into something much bigger than your average eVTOL air taxi: "park 'n' ride" Skybus transports carrying 30 to 50 passengers across congested parts of town, moving affordable public transport into the third dimension.

Bus maker New Flyer and autonomous vehicle development company Robotic Research have unveiled the Xcelsior AV self-driving transit bus, which is reported to be North America's first fully operational heavy duty autonomous transit bus.

After 18 months of planning, the Future Automated Bus Urban Level Operation System (FABULOS) project is about to roll into five European cities to field test autonomous last-mile shuttles in real-world conditions.

The Next Future Transportation system is designed to act as an efficient, coordinated urban network. Still in the early concept stages, the design features a series of modular, self-driving electric pods that pick you up on demand and link together in bus-like form.

The European V-Charge consortium is developing a system whereby users can just step out of their vehicle when they reach a public transit station, leaving the car to head off on its own to find a parking spot.

In a recent survey of blind London youth, about half of the participants stated that they were uncomfortable using the Underground system. With that in mind, the Royal London Society for Blind People partnered with the ustwo design firm to create a prototype guidance system known as wayfindr.

In Bochum, Germany, 1970s street escalators have been given a new lease of life with streamlined glass enclosures made to withstand the impact of a large truck. A series of metal supports covered in glass sheets allow rainwater to cascade over the sides, producing a waterfall effect.