Overall Trends

BUSES Overall Trends driving license holders. In the truck industry, the licens- 1 Japanese Buses and Automotive ing system was partially revised, and a new license for Technology in an Era of Transformation light-duty trucks used for home delivery or other collec- Automotive technology which developed following the tion-and-delivery services has been created but, with the invention of the internal combustion engine, is said to be stipulation of a passenger capacity of 11 or more people, coming to a major turning point. The underlying factors a heavy vehicle license is always mandatory to drive a include not only the omnipresent issues of securing the bus, regardless of the size of the vehicle. oil resources that fuel internal combustion engines and The people holding the Class 2 heavy vehicle class li- preserving the environment, but also rising social expec- cense required to drive a bus for business purposes is tations inspired by innovative advances in IT solutions. getting older. There were 920,000 holders of Class 2 By virtue of the essential role of automobiles as an in- heavy vehicle licenses in 2017, with people 65 or older strument that supports the day-to-day lives of people and falling into the elderly category making up 45% of that logistics throughout the world, a transformation of auto- total. The broader 50-and-above age range includes over motive technology seems likely to affect the lives of all 720,000 license holders, representing 78% of the total. Put people beyond anything ever imagined. Beyond the tech- another way, only a 22% minority of license holders are nological advances, a change in the mindset of the people 49 or younger. These license holders include who are using it to its full extent is also required. driving trucks for business purposes. The average age of Changes such as these are making themselves felt in truck drivers is in the mid-40s, while bus drivers have a all categories, including international and domestic mar- higher average age of 50, illustrating how much further kets, production and consumption resources and, for pro- the aging of bus drivers has progressed. Successfully duction resources, trucks and buses. This article takes finding young drivers will determine the future of bus the perspective of the technological changes and expec- transportation. tations that are gradually affecting automobiles world- Bus driver income is tied to operator profitability, wide to presents an overview how this affects the situa- which means that no improvement can be expected un- tion of buses in Japan and of the attendant technological less the number of users starts to rise. Moreover, recent adaptations. major bus accidents have led to calls to more rigorously 1. 1. Current Status of the Pressing Issue of Driver limit on-duty hours and ensure rest time, and worries Shortage over securing the necessary staff is an ongoing concern Finding drivers is the most urgent and greatest chal- for people involved in bus operations. Long-distance lenge facing the Japanese bus industry. Driver shortage route buses, with their larger per-person price than ordi- is also a critical problem in the truck industry, with the nary urban transit buses, are the mainstay of bus opera- solution of improving employment conditions leading to a tor profits, but long-distance operation requiring a second decrease in truck operating hours. The resulting impact driver make it difficult to increase the number of trips, on logistics is becoming a social issue. Similarly, the ef- and cases of canceling such operations altogether has fects of driver shortage in the bus have become notice- also been observed. As ordinary routes are subject to able to users. measures such as reducing the number of buses, closing The direct cause of the shortage of drivers to support the route on weekends, or setting earlier times for the truck and bus operations is the low absolute number of last bus, the shortage of drivers is affecting user conve- Copyright© 2018 Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan, Inc. All rights reserved nience. The aging of the population is increasing the apprecia- tion of the role of buses in society. Similarly, as depen- dence on buses increases due, for example, to young people no longer getting licenses, the issue of a driver shortage causing the continued efforts to be in vain is a situation that cannot be ignored, in particular from the perspective of the social infrastructure. Some major bus Fig. 1 Example of Vehicle Used for Safe Driving Training (Kintetsu Bus) operator executives have pointed out the danger of a la- bor bankruptcy if nothing changes. This situation is drawing attention to the hiring of non-Japanese workers and automated driving technologies. 1. 2. Safety Education for People with No Bus Driving Experience In response to the decrease in license holders and the aging of Class 2 heavy vehicle license holders, some bus operators have been looking at the possibility of hiring non-Japanese workers. More realistic measures involve many operators expanding the scope of driver hiring. Fig. 2 Quantifying Bus Driving Operations as Data to Encourage Safe and Economic Driving The past application requirements of experience driving a heavy-duty vehicle has been eliminated in favor of hiring people without experience, having them acquire a Class 2 heavy vehicle license in-house, and providing training. A growing number of bus operators are also increasing their efforts to hire women drivers. The shortage of drivers means that the number of drivers with little experience will increase, and this will have an impact on bus technologies. Bus manufacturers Fig. 3 A Dedicated Bus Driving Simulator Has Been Developed have been making models with torque converters or electronic control mechanical transmissions (AMTs) that unique to buses, where some passengers stand (Figs. 1 allow two-pedal operation (AT vehicles) and cases of op- and 2). The question of imparting safe and energy-effi- erators introducing vehicles for driver trainings stand cient driving habits is common to all operators, but with out. the need to address specifications on an individual basis Japanese-made buses, which were the last line of de- and the mounting costs of analysis or other equipment, fense for manual transmission vehicles (MT vehicles) un- few operators can introduce full-fledged training vehicles. til a few years ago, are seeing a rise in the proportion of Nevertheless, they retain significance in terms of demon- AT vehicles spearheaded by urban buses, followed by strating a commitment to hiring and safety. AT vehicles becoming mainstream for heavy-duty sight- Similarly, the high number of safety checks required seeing buses. by transit bus operation has led to the development of Vehicles for driver training reflect the changes in the dedicated bus driving simulators to cultivate driver ex- hiring environment. The unraveling of the assumption of perience. Rain, snow, and other weather conditions, as prior experience underlying past driver training now re- well as nighttime situations and gradient roads can be quires an approach targeting inexperienced drivers that reproduced, and the default routes can be completed by involves objectively collect data on how they drive to en- individual operators with customized backgrounds show- courage safe and economical driving. This includes moni- ing actual routes using CG technology. Another major toring how the driver’s gaze moves, thorough checks for distinction is the simulator’s ability to reproduce acci- safety both in and out of the vehicle, and other functions dents that cannot be recreated with training vehicles. Copyright© 2018 Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan, Inc. All rights reserved Focusing on the aging of drivers in the context of the apply measures to minimize turnover and expand their development and spread of safety systems is urgently pool of potential employees, but at the same time, users spurring work on systems that can ensure safety even in must make a fair appraisal of professional bus drivers, the event of a sudden driver physical impairment. More who supports the day-to-day life of society. The recent and more operators are having drivers undergo brain tendency to value the position of the consumer has led to examinations to predict brain diseases that would lead to international praise for Japanese omotenashi̶hospitality a major accident if they occurred while driving. ̶, but it is possible that, conversely, a situation that only Devices that identify signs of sleepiness from the driv- increase the number of people seeking to receive omote- er’s veins have been commercialized, and systems that nashi might influence the shortage of professional driv- coordinate with the drive recorder and enable real time ers. The spread of drive recorders has reduced the num- verification of driver condition by the operation manager ber of accidents inside vehicles, but there are few when events that could lead to an accident, such as sud- examples of the use of data to eliminate problems caused den braking or lane departure warnings, have become by passengers. Buses also represent an environment ex- more common. pected to contribute to a society that does not cultivate a Since the Class 2 heavy vehicle license test is based on greater number of so-called monster clients. an MT vehicle, some operators who have completed the In Japan, the heavy vehicle license is the same for switch to AT vehicles have purchased used MT vehicles trucks and buses, but some countries separate the two to train drivers. The bar for licenses for bus drivers, who and also have different manuals for each. There are also are entrusted with human lives, should not be lowered cases where the type of bus that can be driven, such as without due consideration, but given the spread of urban buses, long-distance sightseeing buses, articulated heavy-duty AT vehicles, and in terms of expanding the buses or double-decker buses, is specified on the license.

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