React on Rails HN RSC Demo

happytoexplain 5d ago

I like watching the other half of the bus while riding these. It's a cool effect, seeing the whole "room" oscillate through the "doorway", while I feel like I'm standing still.

Edit: The article has a video of this effect near the bottom.

havnagiggle 5d ago

The trains around Munich, Germany were fantastic for that effect. 15+ cars long with wide, open pivots.

Lio 5d ago

Yep I find the Elizabeth Line in London has this effect too.

I find it a bit freaky to be honest but you do get used to it.

rob74 5d ago

I agree that it looks impressive (you just have to catch a time where the train is mostly empty to be able to see end to end), but 15 cars is a bit exaggerated. The U-Bahn trains have 6 cars, the current S-Bahn EMUs have 4 cars (up to three of them can be coupled, but you can't pass from one unit to the next). But the new S-Bahn trains scheduled to be delivered from the end of 2028 will be 200 meters long and have 13 cars (Siemens is apparently not superstitious) where you can indeed walk (and look) from one end to the other: https://press.siemens.com/global/en/pressrelease/germanys-mo...

Aachen 5d ago

Most metros are like this no? Not much seating, just articulated open tubes(-in-tubes)

Symbiote 5d ago

Only if the trains are less than about 25 years old. Before that there were only narrow walkways between carriages.

doginasuit 5d ago

The best part is sitting in the swivel part and having the whole bus bend around you.

ortusdux 5d ago

My college years did not include all that many hangovers, but I distinctly remember not enjoying this effect one morning.

delecti 5d ago

One silver lining to the bus being packed is standing with one foot on either side of the articulation pivot. Feeling your stance change under you while you're standing still is neat.

netsharc 5d ago

Just 2 days ago: one of these buses had an accident that left the front part twisted 180 degrees in relation to the rear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flbaRmGKzPY

The Munich bus-trailer in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IUE-yA8R1A

adrianmonk 5d ago

When I got to where they explained the benefits of having the engine at the very back and the instability of having the back part push the front, I tried to guess how they solved it. I guessed a fancy drive shaft with universal joints so the engine in the back half could drive wheels in the front half.

I guessed wrong. I still like my idea, but their solution is simpler and probably more efficient and more durable too.

simondotau 5d ago

A more modern solution would be to use electric motors on multiple axles, the power coming from a generator or battery.

ryukafalz 5d ago

The bus version of an EMU train

BrtByte 5d ago

I wonder how much extra complexity a driveshaft crossing the articulation joint would introduce

myself248 5d ago

This article's byline features one of the most magnificent cases of nominative determinism I've ever seen. I wonder if it's a nom de plume.

readthenotes1 5d ago

Name chosen on gender change

https://medium.com/@MissMercedes/the-birth-of-mercedes-cb41d...

whatever1 5d ago

Omg! My whole life I thought that the rear engine articulated buses transferred the torque to the middle axle (the rear axle of the front “bus”)!

BrtByte 5d ago

Same here :) I always assumed the engine was just placed at the back for packaging reasons and somehow drove the middle axle

lesam 5d ago

Why is it that this and similar ad-filled pages constantly crash/reload? On mobile safari in reader mode, if it helps. I would have expected reader mode to be more stable since it removes a bunch of junk, but sadly no.

The article seemed cool but I was only able to read 20 seconds at a time between crashes.

bell-cot 5d ago

Call me a fossil, but double-decker busses just seem so much cooler. Without all the added engineering complexity, costs, and footprint.

Aachen 5d ago

Boarding times though? I agree of course about the cool factor and I was sure to ride one when visiting London, but afaik the slower (dis)embarking times are why double-decked trains are primarily used on intercity trains and not on commuter/local trains or light rail (metro etc.). Typical busses stopping every two minutes are probably similar

Edit: wait, I know one in Germany as well. It's expensive but between Frankfurt airport and another major city, there is a rail line but somehow the bus is significantly faster and they're using double deckers. The front row at the top was, n=3, always free for me (all four seats) so you get a quite unique experience, at least so far as my bus experiences in mainland western Europe go :)

bell-cot 5d ago

> Boarding times though?

Often true. OTOH, the reduced footprint (vs. either 1 articulated or 2 normal busses) can speeds things up, especially on cramped and congested city streets. And if you're getting near gridlock-level congestion, the length of the articulated busses can be like dumping gravel into your system's gearbox.

TeMPOraL 5d ago

True. While I love our articulated buses in Kraków, if one of these stops mid-turn on an intersection, it blocks 3 out of 4 movement directions.

kergonath 5d ago

These issues are solved with dedicated bus lanes, which are desirable even for double deckers.

dominotw 5d ago

> Boarding times though?

cant they just put another entry door?

adrianmonk 5d ago

You can, but it's easier to evade fares. The driver can enforce fares better at the door near them.

My local transit agency just stopped allowing rear door boarding, and that was one of the main reasons: https://waypointblog.com/capmetro-is-ending-rear-door-boardi...

TuxPowered 5d ago

The goal of public transportation is to move people fast around the city. Not to have the driver sell the tickets, that’s what the ticket machine is for (both on stations and on board). Anybody using public transportation daily probably has a monthly ticket anyway. And not to provide tourist information.

People want to get to work on time after all. Entering and leaving the tram or bus through all door is a simple way to improve public transports reliability.

dominotw 5d ago

maybe i dont understand how articulated bus makes boarding faster. If anything it makes it slower compared to double decker .

TuxPowered 5d ago

Double deckers I’ve seen have just one narrow staircase. You can’t have people go up and down at the same time. Through a door you can move some people in and out at the same time, however it’s rude, but since it’s a door and not a lengthy corridor, you can easily have a group of people go out, let new passengers in, and get in again.

gavinsyancey 5d ago

Because they're longer, you can fit more doors on the side. If you allow all-door boarding, it's faster.

anewhnaccount2 5d ago

The original designs had boarding at the back. Don't even have to stop people can just leap on.

kergonath 5d ago

You have different footprint issues. And a lot of cities seem to have been doing ok with the engineering bit for what, 60 years now?

Double-deckers are cool, I’ll grant you that. And a very nice way to visit a city. But they are far, far less efficient in terms of capacity.

hagbard_c 5d ago

How about articulated double-decker buses? The one does not need to exclude the other after all. It'd need a large harmonica to deal with hills and bumps or it could have separated top floors with sloping roofs.

bell-cot 5d ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoplan_Jumbocruiser

> need a large harmonica to deal

I'd guess you mean "large accordion". Either way, the size & complexity of that joint section may be why the idea never went anywhere.

andrewshadura 5d ago

How about double-articulated double-deckers?

imtringued 5d ago

Now I want an articulated double decker trolley bus with an articulated double decker trailer.

anArbitraryOne 5d ago

I relate more to the inarticulate bus

AnthonBerg 5d ago

well spoken are its wheels

anArbitraryOne 4d ago

Truly a hub for circular reasoning

AnthonBerg 4d ago

Yes! And. Please bear with me:

SONG OF INDRA

Thus indeed, thus is my mind : kine and horses will I win. Have I not drunk of the Soma ?

Like the roaring winds the draughts of Soma have roused me up. Have I not drunk of the Soma ?

The draughts have roused me up, as swift horses a chariot. Have I not drunk of the Soma ?

The hymn has drawn nigh to me, as a lowing cow to her dear calf. Have I not drunk of the Soma ?

As a carpenter a seat for the chariot, round my heart I bend the hymn. Have I not drunk of the Soma ?

Haha, had to. This is such an absurdly beautiful translation of a Vedic hymn by Thomas. Source: page 50: https://archive.org/cors/vedichymns00unse/vedichymns00unse.p...

Reason077 5d ago

> “The articulated bus is a common sight everywhere”

Certainly not in London where they were famously banned in 2009.

Now days they’re uncommon throughout the UK, with UK cities having a preference for double-deckers. You do see them in use as shuttles at some UK airports, though.

hagbard_c 5d ago

Why were they banned? They're used in the Netherlands which is rife with small bendy streets so if that was the argument it seems to be somewhat spurious.

zarzavat 5d ago

They sucked basically. A bendy bus takes up twice as much space as a double decker while being half as fun to ride on. Even with double deckers many bus stops operate beyond capacity with multiple buses in contention at a stop, double deckers allow 3 buses to load simultaneously allowing six busloads of people to board in a space that would only allow for 1 bendy bus, essentially tripling the capacity.

They also cause problems for other road users such as cyclists.

Bendy buses work well if your city has wide straight roads. London's roads are neither.

ajuc 5d ago

On the other hand if you have trolleybuses (like in my city) the double-deckers are a problem and articulated buses aren't.

zabzonk 5d ago

in the 1960s, the UK had lots of double-deck trolley buses with few problems - I used to ride them to school.

ajuc 5d ago

Aren't the hanging lines a problem with double-deckers?

tonyedgecombe 5d ago

There were some fatalities that got a lot of attention in the media. There was also a problem with fare evasion. Some were catching fire as well. A perfect storm of issues.

skrtskrt 5d ago

The British press really never misses a chance to do the wrong thing huh.

globular-toast 5d ago

In this case it was the right thing. Double deckers are better.

I didn't know until now that they're only common in Britain. I guess when travelling you don't notice things like "there aren't many double decker buses".

contingencies 5d ago

Also don't forget changing anything is a great opportunity for grift and politicking. Test. Evaluate. Plan. Consult. Pilot. Source. Phase out. Phase in. Maintain. A lot of public money to distribute! A lot of project credit-taking and future-progress-aligning to be image-jacked!

sagarm 5d ago

So we should never change anything?

contingencies 4d ago

So we should just cede management to the AI and get about solely in personal transport that is tracked and logged and authorized at every turn?

Symbiote 5d ago

The right-wing media at the time latched onto them as the cause of all of society's problems, and Boris Johnson promised to get rid of them if he was elected mayor.

In addition to the other reply's issues, they replaced the dirty and stinking but British-made old Routemaster buses, they were much more accessible to the disabled and babies (pushchairs), they were used successfully elsewhere in Europe, and they use more road space which could otherwise contain an important person's car.

I think they're still used in cities outside London, but that's OK since Daily Telegraph journalists never go there.

secretsatan 5d ago

Any public transport initiative that in any way inconveniences a car driver gets hate in the UK

gattis 5d ago

double length bus has to be one of dumbest ideas i've ever seen. jams up a whole block every time it tries to turn. usually at least half empty and not helping anything. double decker. brits figured it out already.

themadturk 5d ago

Yeah, double deckers don't work everywhere. Overhead infrastructure isn't always conducive. And I rode one of these for years (it could have been the very bus in the first picture) and they were often full on the suburban runs.

lowbloodsugar 5d ago

Unfuckingreadable.

kdkdkdjffj 5d ago

you are absokutely right

The engineering that allows articulated buses to bend (theautopian.com)