Bus Noise and Vibration Scenarios

This research presents insights into the impact of vibroacoustic factors in conventional and electric buses by investigating seven factors: average speed, bus age, road conditions, road network, bus operating days, times, and occupancy levels. Data on these factors and bus vibroacoustic levels were collected through observations alongside vibroacoustic apps (Sound Meter Pro and iDynamics) from 31 conventional and 12 electric buses in Montreal, Canada. The data was analyzed using Pearson's correlation, and predictive models were generated using multilinear regression to assess 650 sub-scenarios for each bus type. The results indicated that electric buses had better vibroacoustic performance compared to conventional buses under different contexts. Furthermore, the factors of age, road conditions, and average speed had notable but varying effects on both bus noise and vibration levels. Thus, this study suggests that adopting electric buses, reducing the age of existing bus fleet, improving road infrastructure, and lowering operation speeds can effectively minimize bus noise and vibration for better environmental and rider comfort. Future research can be adopted to consider a broader range of variables, including maintenance and traffic density, to further refine the effects of these factors on conventional and electric bus vibroacoustic levels.