InsideTransit

Now here is something you will probably never seen on any transit system in the U.S. This one comes straight from the London Underground. A bunch of people went on the tube naked (yes, I mean completely naked) to promote an upcoming TV series where experts will help small businesses turn around and become profitable.

The Daily Mail has the full story (NOTE: LINK HAS NSFW NUDE PHOTOS) and they note, “Steven Suphi, behaviour change specialist and leadership guru, believes stripping off in the office will help boost employees’ confidence and develop trust. I believe this extreme process will help them push their boundaries and become a close team that trust each other enough to get naked together.”

I wonder what will happen if this TV show makes it across the river.

Back in March we took a look at snakes on a bus. Now thanks to our main street reporter Mark, you can see below a bus eat a lady. Mark noted that the woman appeared unaware as she entered the bus that it was about to eat her.

We were able to grab a few minutes with the lady inside of the bus after being eaten. She said that she will be using her car from now on and appeared very upset and frazzled. I guess I can understand her mood after the bus ate her!

The National Post newspaper in Toronto, Canada has put together an etiquette group they call the TTCC or the Toronto Transit Civility Commission. The idea is to post etiquette posters all around the Toronto subways to help people remember to:

1. take only the number of seats a human needs
2. to not stink
3. and to not do personal grooming on the subway

I would add one about putting your trash in the trash bin. Here in NYC I think there are more trash bins than there are people yet pigs throw their garbage on the tracks and on the ground.

The posters (one seen below) are also available in large sizes perfect for printing.

Many of you have heard of snakes on a plane,  but have you heard of snakes on a bus? Our man on the street in Berlin, Mark, sent in the photos below of a bus that has a wrap promoting the zoo. We’ve seen tons of transit ad wraps here at InsideTransit – for both buses and trains – and this is the best looking wrap I’ve ever seen.

I don’t know about you but I would be a bit nervous if that bus showed up at my stop in the morning.

We’ve written about odd buses before including the Fucker Bus. Here in NYC there is a bus called the Duck which can float around in the water and then become an open-top bus. The Duck bus is for tourists coming to NYC.

Today our reporter in Berlin, Mark, has found us a new type of bus. It’s a bus that can transform into a boat and head into the water.

Check out the full story on Spiegel Online. The boat part of the bus is powered by two massive engines and the bus can carry 45 passengers across the river.

All I can say is that I want this water bus. You could easily live inside this bus and slap an Internet connection on the roof and go anywhere! I wonder how long a trip on this boat-bus would take from NYC to London. Place your bets in the comments.

Last week I watched a show about those capsule hotels in Tokyo. Those are the hotels where your “room” is basically the size of a large clothes dryer. Apparently there is a space issue in Tokyo. Found via Subchat, Joseph shows us how buses are stored in Tokyo. I’m not talking about small 10-person buses but instead these are large coach buses!

Have a look below and just pray nobody accidentally hits the down button!

This might be the cutest thing you will see today – scratch that – this year! NewYorkSh*tty has a set of photos of a hamster on the number 4 subway. There are several very interesting points about these photos:

• the train is empty – I’ve never seen an empty 4 train
• the destination sign is blank – I guess this train just goes on forever!
• the hamster appears to be posing for some of the pics – he probably thinks the photos will be placed on Facebook

NewYorkSh*tty has an interview with the person behind the photoshoot and notes that the models come from usage in courts when cases involve trains or buses. The models look pretty damn awesome – I want!

Vodkaster has put together a subway map that includes the best movies of all time. Subway lines on the map are organized by film type. Some of the movies on the map include: Godfather, Casablanca, To Kill a Mockingbird and Die Hard.

Download the full movies map here.

Earlier this week, riders of the L subway line in NYC got an eyeful when 19 year-old Jocelyn Saldana stripped down naked and started riding the pole. The NY Post has a story about the event which took riders by surprise – they probably thought the heat got to them and they were hallucinating. I can tell you this, I’d rather see a naked woman on my subway rides home than listen to the (mostly) horrible music that so-called musicians try to play. Even more I’d just prefer a quiet train with good air conditioning.

From the Post, “…That free show in mid-June — as well as similar ones from Times Square to Chinatown — were the creation of photographer Zach Hyman, 22, whose portraits are never under-exposed. The photographer and his volunteer models don’t spend much time on location. The model quickly disrobes and Hyman gives himself only 30 seconds to fire off 10 shots with his Hasselblad 500 film camera.”

Apparently Hyman carries a lot of bail money should cops find him while he is shooting the nudes.

And here you thought the Metrocard was just for paying your fare. Below is a photo from the “shoot” but I’ve blurred the bits – if you want to see the full image (NOT SAFE FOR WORK) – Swiss site Blick has it for you.

The bus company we love to think of as first-class all the way (note sarcasm), Greyhound, is moving across the ocean to the UK. You can see an example of the buses that Greyhound will roll with below – it’s a pretty nice looking bus from the outside.

From the announcement:

• The first UK Greyhound coaches will run between London Victoria and Portsmouth and Southampton with services scheduled to launch on September 14.
• The Greyhound UK coaches will have leather seating, free wi-fi, power sockets, air-conditioning and complimentary newspapers.
• First says the Scania Irizar coaches will have up to 20% more legroom than rivals’ vehicles while traffic light displays on the coach dashboards will inform drivers how well they are driving their vehicle. (LOL – “attention passengers, the driver of this coach is going well past the speed limit”)
• All Greyhound UK coaches will be named after women from popular American songs such as Sweet Caroline, Barbara Ann, Jolene and Peggy Sue. (will there be a britney spears – probably not since it would be prone to crashes)

I thought it was us Americans that wanted to be like the Brits not the other way around. There will be an online marketing campaign when the buses roll out targeting the young Internet audience. I sure hope the drivers remember that in the UK they drive on the left.

As a side note, why do buses in Europe all have those huge ass mirrors – I’ve never seen them state-side but on my European trips, they are everywhere. They remind me of the sticks used in cricket.