UPDATE: StarTran: New simulator improves safety, saves money
UPDATE:
The ribbon was cut as StarTran introduced its new bus driving simulator station.
They said it helps equip drivers with the tools to make them more effective and safer for everyone in the city.
“It adds an element of safety to what can be a dangerous profession,” said StarTran Field Supervisor Colin Clark.
Charlie Schroeder is president of the local Amalgamated Transit Union. He said the simulator not only teaches drivers for what to watch out for, but also gives them a feel for different weather conditions so they’re not caught off guard when they get on the actual streets.
“You’re not risking accidents for anybody,” Schroeder said. “Hard to get injured on this, unless you fall out of the thing.”
StarTran said drivers still get training time on the real road, but that this puts them in situations you can’t anticipate, improving a system StarTran says is already good.
“We have very few preventable accidents for a system our size,” Clark said. “But there are dangers out there. “We pick up more than two–and–a–half million passengers a year. We are taking care of a lot of people out there….and this will increase our ability to do so.”
They said the simulator cost $350,000 and that it will pay for itself by saving fuel, lives and expenses from accidents that would happen from training on the real road.
StarTran said other bus systems in the country have implemented simulated driving technology and that it’s decreased preventable accidents by up to 66 percent.
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City bus drivers don’t have to go out on the streets every time they train.
That’s because StarTran has unveiled a new bus simulator station. They said this helps equip drivers with the tools to make them more effective and safer for everyone in the city.
StarTran Field Supervisor Colin Clark said drivers still get training time on the real road, but this puts them in situations you can’t anticipate, improving a system StarTran says is already good.
“We have very few preventable accidents for a system our size,” Clark said. “But there are dangers out there. We pick up more than two–and–a–half million passengers a year. We are taking care of a lot of people out there….and this will increase our ability to do so.”
They said the simulator cost $350,000 and that it will pay for itself by saving fuel, lives and expenses from accidents that would happen from training on the real road.
