Ride Quality Evaluation of a Bus Used in a City Public Transportation Service 2009-01-2829

Ride quality is an important concern for users of road vehicles. Typically, vehicle comfort is qualified in a subjective manner to describe the users' perception, but mechanical vibration is utilized as a quantitative parameter. This work shows some results of mid-size bus' ride quality evaluation used in a typical city route for public transportation. The bus was instrumented and vertical acceleration was measured at the floor and on two seats, one at the middle of the bus and other in the most rear. Acceleration data was used to evaluate the vibration according to the ISO Standard 2631-1, considering only vertical direction for seated and standing passenger positions. The results showed that vibration levels in this bus can be high enough to negatively affect the passengers ride and comfort, increasing the risk of affecting human health.