Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
November 24, 1998 The Manakamana Cable Car service in the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal was inaugurated. This gondola lift transportation system had been imported from Austria. (In that type of gondola lift transportation system, airborne cars supported and propelled by cables from above are used to carry passengers from one point to another.) The... Continue Reading →
November 17, 1913 The Eighth Street Bridge in Allentown, Pennsylvania, was formally opened to traffic. At the time of its debut, this 17-arch structure -- measuring 2,650 feet (810 meters) in length and 138 feet (42 meters) in height -- was the world’s longest and highest concrete bridge. This bridge came into existence because the Lehigh... Continue Reading →
November 12, 2014 In the Republic of Indonesia, a newly established commuter rail line in the Surabaya metropolitan area of the country’s province of East Java first went into service. (Surabaya is second only to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, as that country’s largest city.) The introduction of the commuter service known as KA Jenggala... Continue Reading →
November 5, 2018 The first fully integrated multimodal terminal in the Philippines was opened in the City of Parañaque in the country’s National Capital Region. The National Capital Region (also known as Metro Manila) encompasses 16 cities – including Parañaque and the country’s capital of Manila – on Luzon, the largest and most populous of... Continue Reading →
October 28, 2008 A new version of the influential and time-honored Blue Bird All American school bus was unveiled at the trade show of the National Association for Pupil Transportation annual conference in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. These buses are manufactured by the Blue Bird Corporation, which is based in Fort Valley, Georgia, and traces its... Continue Reading →
October 19, 1973 In the Canadian province of British Columbia, a key transit exchange for buses was opened at Highway 1 and Main Street in the city of North Vancouver. (This waterfront municipality is located on the North Shore of Burrard Inlet and directly across from the larger city of Vancouver.) That transit exchange was... Continue Reading →
October 14, 1892 The first type of tram service in the city of Belgrade in the Kingdom of Serbia (a region that is now part of the Republic of Serbia) was formally introduced. The government of Serbia’s capital had contracted with Periklos Tziklos, a native of Italy, to build this public transportation system. The first... Continue Reading →
September 1, 1973 The first U.S. federal safety standard relating to school buses officially took effect. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) No. 217 was issued by the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration, a part of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), to help better protect the lives of passengers on certain large buses (intercity... Continue Reading →
August 13, 1948 The first trolley buses to run in the city of Vancouver in the Canadian province of British Columbia were formally introduced to the public. These pioneering trolley buses were operated by the British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER), which had been in charge of various electric transit systems in that region of the... Continue Reading →
July 7, 1914 An electric railway (interurban) line in southern Maine began regular operations. This line would serve as a key transit link between the Pine Tree State’s two largest cities: Portland in Cumberland County; and Lewiston in Androscoggin County. Construction on the line began in 1910. The first trial run for the new route... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 