The fleet of Saransk's "Gorelektrotrans" has been replenished with 12 new NEFAZ-5299-40-52 buses. The vehicles were produced at KAMAZ's subsidiary in Neftekamsk and have already started operating on routes. The delivery of an articulated KAMAZ-6299-5F is expected in November.
One of the key features of the new NEFAZ buses is the on-board radio information and sound orientation equipment. It works in conjunction with a smartphone via the "Speaking City" application.
The smartphone prompts the name of the stop, warns about the bus's arrival, and indicates whether it is low-floor and if it has ramps. Passengers can inform the driver about themselves in advance – a notification will appear on the driver's display. The driver will also know about the passenger's desire to exit and can communicate directly with them through microphones and speakers.
The bus "understands" that there is a special passenger thanks to an all-weather Bluetooth sensor above the middle doors. The main users of the system are people with visual impairments, but it can also be used by wheelchair users and parents with strollers.
The "Speaking City" application is being rolled out across the country. In St. Petersburg, 100% of trams and trolleybuses, as well as 900 buses, are equipped with it. Hundreds of units of transport are in Krasnodar, Sochi, Sevastopol, Moscow, Chelyabinsk.
The second feature of the new NEFAZ buses is the passenger counting system with artificial intelligence. According to the developers, its accuracy is close to 100%. Cameras "remember" faces: if a passenger leaves the cabin to let others out and immediately re-enters, the system will not identify them as a new passenger.