Phileas is a bus rapid transit, developed by Samenwerkingsverband Regio Eindhoven (SRE), Netherlands, along with other companies for the Cooperation Foundation Eindhoven Region (most prominently; APTS and Bombardier). Phileas is an advanced

guided bus Guided buses are buses capable of being steered by external means, usually on a Bus lane, dedicated track or roll way that excludes other traffic, permitting the maintenance of Public transport timetable, schedules even during rush hours. Unl ...

, intended to deliver tram-like public transport at a low cost; the maintenance infrastructures are intended to be cheaper, due to no maintenance of rails and

overhead line An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, Electric multiple unit, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union ...

s. A major feature of the bus, is the recharging battery by means of

electromagnetic induction Electromagnetic or magnetic induction is the production of an electromotive force, electromotive force (emf) across an electrical conductor in a changing magnetic field. Michael Faraday is generally credited with the discovery of induction in 1 ...

; which allows the battery to be manufactured in smaller sizes. Thus, less heavy and environmentally damaging. The project has cost more than two billion

Euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

s, including infrastructure changes.

Origin of name

Phileas is named after

Phileas Fogg Phileas Fogg ( ) is the protagonist in the 1872 Jules Verne novel '' Around the World in Eighty Days''. Inspirations for the character were the American entrepreneur George Francis Train and American writer and adventurer William Perry Fogg ...

, the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

in ''

Around the World in Eighty Days ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' () is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate ...

'' by

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

because of the high speed and ability to be on time.

Navigation

The Phileas mainly drives on a

bus lane A bus lane or bus-only lane is a lane restricted to buses, generally to speed up public transport that would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion. The related term busway describes a roadway completely dedicated for use by buses, whilst ...

, following a pre-programmed route defined by magnets built into the road. The FROG technique used allowed driverless operation, however, for legal reasons, a driver must always remain present and vigilant - the budget prevented the Phileas from being completely separated from ordinary traffic. However, the regional authority for urban transport in

Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...

(SRE) decided to stop using the magnetic guidance system.

Safety

The computer systems inside the Phileas buses are designed in accordance with Safety Integrity Level SIL-4. It controls the vehicle's speed and direction and has a triple- redundant,

fail-safe In engineering, a fail-safe is a design feature or practice that, in the event of a failure causes, failure of the design feature, inherently responds in a way that will cause minimal or no harm to other equipment, to the environment or to people. ...

architecture. This means that one system consists of three

single-board computer A single-board computer (SBC) is a complete computer built on a single circuit board, with microprocessor(s), memory, input/output (I/O) and other features required of a functional computer. Single-board computers are commonly made as demonst ...

s in
2-out-of-3 configuration
Each is installed in a different place in the bus, to avoid a complete system failure in the event of a vehicle collision. Every single computer obtains data from all sensors via two

CAN bus A controller area network bus (CAN bus) is a vehicle bus standard designed to enable efficient communication primarily between electronic control units (ECUs). Originally developed to reduce the complexity and cost of electrical wiring in auto ...

connections and compares them with the other two computers' results. In the case of data mismatch, the bus is switched off and the entire system goes into a "safe state", which means that the bus stops and opens its doors.

License

On 3 November 2005, a license & technology transfer agreement was signed between Advanced Public Transport Systems (APTS) and the Korea Railroad Research Institute (KRRI). The KRRI developed the Korean version of Phileas vehicle in May 2011. In December 2009, APTS, the manufacturer of the Phileas Tram signed a contract with Ballard Fuel Cells of

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

to supply zero-emission engines for the Phileas. The Phileas Trams are in successful operation in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

(

Metronit The Metronit (, ), also spelled Matronit, is a bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Haifa, Israel. Two Metronit lines, line 1 and 5א, operate during the weekend, or Sabbath, i.e. on Friday and Saturday, which is almost unique in Israel – as of 2 ...

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

). They were also in use for a time in

Douai Douai ( , , ; ; ; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord (French department), Nord département in northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe (rive ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, but persistent unreliability led to their replacement by traditional articulated buses just 4 years after their introduction.La voix du Nord du 22 novembre 2014, édition du Douaisis
Only two Phileas

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

es were ever built: A 2011 prototype for a planned new busway system in

Pescara Pescara (; ; ) is the capital city of the province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 118,657 (January 1, 2023) residents (and approximately 350,000 including the surround ...

, Italy, and a 2014 prototype (with doors on both sides) for the Metromare busway then under construction in

Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...

. Neither ever entered service on the systems for which they had been purchased, because the Metromare did not open until 2019, several years after the Phileas design was discontinued, and the planned Pescara trolleybus line has yet to open as of 2024. Both prototypes eventually were sold to a dealer in secondhand vehicles. In 2021, both were acquired by the Chișinău trolleybus system, in Moldova, and one entered service in June 2022.

Challenges of the Metrobus project in Istanbul

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Metropolitan Municipality purchased 50 Phileas bi-articulated vehicles for €63,278,650 (€1,265,573 per bus) for the Metrobus project; which was the highest order for Phileas at the time. There were several challenges due to faulty design including overcrowding (originally designed for 240 passengers, accommodating up to 300 passengers, exceeding their intended capacity), and challenging terrain (over 7% slopes). In addition, the weak traction axles of the buses frequently cracked and buses needed modifications to continue service. The modification cost for the stronger traction axles was comparatively expensive and was more than €200,000 per bus (competitor buses like the Mercedes Conecto with 185 passenger capacity were sold for approximately €400,000 at that time). Changes were made to accommodate higher passenger traffic. One of the buses was lost to a fire on the 25 of March, 2015 at E5 road. Around 32 buses are usable and approximately 20 buses are in light use (25,000 km per year) due to their high operating expenses and high failure rates. The remaining buses remain parked at Edirnekapı and Hasanpaşa garages of

Metropolitan Municipality. They are currently in unusable condition and are used as a source of spare parts.

Sources

This article incorporates parts of the Dutch Wikipedia entry, :nl:Phileas (OV)

References

External links

www.apts-phileas.com

PhileasNews

Ballard Power of Vancouver signs with APTS to power Phileas Trams

Phileas in Istanbul
(Turkish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Phileas (Public Transport) Bus rapid transit Transport in the Netherlands Fuel cell buses