The City of Ribbleton, England Essay - 876 Words

The city of Ribbleton lies on a relatively flat piece of land located along River Ribble in England. The city climate remains stable at a low 10 degrees Celsius, which is typical for a city with this location. Many of the days in Ribbleton are cloudy and rainy, which adds to the low temperature. 50,000 reside in this city, so transportation is a key factor. Almost half of the world’s population inhabit cities so it is important for those people to be able to move easily throughout them; whether it is because of cars, bikes, or trains. Most of the problems cities have with transportation are traffic, the environment, and the capacity the transport can hold. These problems occur in all cities, and this includes Ribbleton, but engineers†¦show more content†¦One of its sources of power is from the sun. On the top of the Straddle Bus are multiple solar panels that help fuel the bus. Solar power has always been a very efficient source of renewable energy, but has always be en quite costly. This futuristic form of transportation saves 2,640 tons of carbon emissions per year. This helps the environment tremendously, which is important because Ribbleton is very eco-friendly. Although there are a lot of upsides to the Straddle Bus, there are some side effects of these overhead transporters that need to be addressed. The buses travel at faster speeds than the cyclists. The resulting wind resistance from the buses reaching 40 mph can have positive and negative impacts on the cyclists. Cyclists need to be concerned with drafting behind the buses, which can cause an unexpected increase in the speed at which they are pedaling. The overhead buses also may cause the cyclists some concern, particularly when the buses approach the cyclists from behind. The city of Ribbleton has instituted a system for the cyclists and buses to co-exist under the safest conditions. The buses issue warning signals along the tracks a significant distance ahead of the cyclists. The track issues a yellow glow to indicate that a bus is approaching, a  ½ a mile warning. When the bus is a  ¼ mile away, the track glows red. The color system has proved to be a much better war ning system than an audible horn. The