Phileas is a

bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

, developed by Samenwerkingsverband Regio Eindhoven (SRE), Netherlands, along with other companies for the Cooperation Foundation Eindhoven Region (most prominently; APTS and Bombardier). It is an advanced guided bus intended to deliver tram-like public transport at a very low cost; the infrastructure is much cheaper, because of less maintenance and there are no rails and

overhead line An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipmen ...

s. The project was initiated in 1998 to preserve knowledge about technology and innovation in the region and create jobs. The biggest feature of the bus is the recharging of the battery by means of

electromagnetic induction Electromagnetic or magnetic induction is the production of an electromotive force (emf) across an electrical conductor in a changing magnetic field. Michael Faraday is generally credited with the discovery of induction in 1831, and James Clerk ...

; which means that the battery can be made much smaller and thus less heavy and environmentally damaging. The project started in the late 1990s to demonstrate the high technology level and technical knowledge in the

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Phileas Fogg Phileas Fogg () is the protagonist in the 1872 Jules Verne novel ''Around the World in Eighty Days''. Inspirations for the character were the American entrepreneur George Francis Train and American writer and adventurer William Perry Fogg. ...

, the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

in ''

Around the World in Eighty Days ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' (french: link=no, Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employe ...

'' by

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

because of the high speed and ability to be on time.

Navigation

The Phileas mainly drives on a

bus lane A bus lane or bus-only lane is a lane restricted to buses, often on certain days and times, and generally used to speed up public transport that would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion. The related term busway describes a roadway ...

, following a pre-programmed route defined by magnets built into the road. The FROG technique used allowed driverless operation, however, for legal reasons a driver must always remain present and vigilant - the budget prevented the Phileas from being completely separated from ordinary traffic. However, the regional authority for urban transport in

Safety

The computer systems inside the Phileas buses are designed in accordance to

Safety Integrity Level Safety integrity level (SIL) is defined as the relative level of risk-reduction provided by a safety function, or to specify a target level of risk reduction. In simple terms, SIL is a measurement of performance required for a safety instrumented ...

SIL-4. It controls the vehicle's speed and direction and has a triple- redundant,

fail-safe In engineering, a fail-safe is a design feature or practice that in the event of a specific type of failure, inherently responds in a way that will cause minimal or no harm to other equipment, to the environment or to people. Unlike inherent safe ...

architecture. This means that one system consists of three

single-board computer A single-board computer (SBC) is a complete computer built on a single circuit board, with microprocessor(s), memory, input/output (I/O) and other features required of a functional computer. Single-board computers are commonly made as demonstrati ...

s in
2-out-of-3 configuration
Each is installed in a different place in the bus, to avoid a complete system failure in the event of a vehicle collision. Every single computer obtains data from all sensors via two

CAN bus A Controller Area Network (CAN bus) is a robust vehicle bus standard designed to allow microcontrollers and devices to communicate with each other's applications without a host computer. It is a message-based protocol, designed originally for mu ...

connections and compares them with the other two computers' results. In the case of data mismatch, the bus is switched off and the entire system goes into a "safe state", which means that the bus stops and opens its doors.

License

On 3 November 2005 a license & technology transfer agreement was signed between Advanced Public Transport Systems (APTS) and the Korea Railroad Research Institute (KRRI). The KRRI developed the Korean version of Phileas vehicle in May of 2011. In December 2009, APTS, the manufacturer of the Phileas Tram signed a contract with Ballard Fuel Cells of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

to supply zero emission engines for the Phileas. The Phileas Trams are in successful operation in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. They were also in use for a time in

Douai Douai (, , ,; pcd, Doï; nl, Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some from Lille and from Arras, D ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, but persistent unreliability led to their replacement by traditional articulated buses just 4 years after their introduction.La voix du Nord du 22 novembre 2014, édition du Douaisis

Challenges of the Metrobus project in Istanbul

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Metropolitan Municipality purchased 50 Phileas bi-articulated vehicles for 63,278,650€ (1,265,573€ per bus) for the Metrobus project; which was the highest order for Phileas at the time. Due to faulty design, overcrowding (as many as 300 passengers were being crammed into buses that originally had been designed for 240), challenging terrain(over 7% slopes). Weak traction axles of the buses frequently cracked and buses needed modifications to continue service. The modification cost for the stronger traction axles was quite high and it was more than 200,000€ per bus (competitor buses like Mercedes Conecto with 185 passenger capacity was sold for approximately 400,000€ at that time). Changes were made to accommodate higher passenger traffic. One of the buses was lost to a fire on the 25 of March, 2015 at E5 road. Around 32 buses are usable and approximately 20 buses in light use (25,000km per year) due to their high operating expenses and high failure rates. Remaining buses remain parked at Edirnekapı and Hasanpaşa garages of

Metropolitan Municipality. They are currently in unusable condition and are used for a source of spare parts.

Sources

This article incorporates parts of the Dutch Wikipedia entry, :nl:Phileas (OV)

References

External links

www.apts-phileas.com

PhileasNews

Ballard Power of Vancouver signs with APTS to power Phileas Trams

Phileas in Istanbul
(Turkish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Phileas (Public Transport) Bus rapid transit Transport in the Netherlands Fuel cell buses