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Arthur Zimmermann

Arthur Zimmermann (5 October 1864 – 6 June 1940) was State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the German Empire from 22 November 1916 until his resignation on 6 August 1917. His name is associated with the Zimmermann Telegram during World War I. He was also closely involved in plans to support rebellions in Ireland and in India, and to assist the Bolsheviks to undermine Tsarist Russia.

Career
He was born in Marggrabowa, East Prussia, then in the Kingdom of Prussia (present-day Olecko, Mazury, Poland). He studied law from 1884-87 in Königsberg, East Prussia, and Leipzig. A period as a junior lawyer followed and later he received his doctorate of law. In 1893, he took up a career in diplomacy and entered the consular service in Berlin. He arrived in China in 1896 (Canton in 1898), and rose to the rank of consul in 1900. While stationed in the Far East, he witnessed the Boxer Rebellion in China. As part of his transfer to the Foreign Office, he returned to Germany in 1902. A portion of this trip was via railroad across the Continental United States, a fact he would later use to inflate his supposed expertise on the nation.

Later he was called to the Foreign Office, became Under Secretary of State in 1911, and on 24 November 1916, he accepted his confirmation as Secretary of State, succeeding Gottlieb von Jagow in this position. He had assumed a large share of his superior's negotiations with foreign envoys for several years prior to his appointment because of Jagow's reservation in office. He was the first non-aristocrat to serve as foreign secretary.

Kronrat
As acting secretary Zimmermann took part in the so-called Kronrat, the deliberations in 1914, with Kaiser Wilhelm II and Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, in which the decision was taken to support Austria-Hungary after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria at Sarajevo, which ultimately was to lead to the outbreak of war. He later disavowed the name Kronrat since it was the Kaiser's opinion that was decisive in the discussion, but with which Bethmann Hollweg and Zimmermann concurred.

Irish rebellion
In late 1914, Zimmermann was visited by Roger Casement, the Irish nationalist. A plan was laid to land 25,000 soldiers in the west of Ireland with 75,000 rifles. However, the German general staff did not agree. In April 1916, Casement returned to Ireland in a U-boat and was captured and executed. A German ship (the Libau) renamed the Aud, flying Norwegian colours, shipped 20,000 rifles to the south Irish coast, but it failed to link up with the rebels and was scuttled. Planning on this support, the Irish Volunteers launched the Easter Rising in Dublin. Though the Rising failed, its political effect led on to the Irish War of Independence in 1919–22 and the formation of the Irish Free State.

Resignation and death
On 6 August 1917, Zimmermann resigned as foreign secretary and was succeeded by Richard von Kühlmann. One of the causes of his resignation was the famous Zimmermann Telegram he sent on 16 January 1917. He died in Berlin in 1940 of pneumonia.

Background
Two and a half years into World War I, the United States had maintained a status of neutrality while the Allied armies had been fighting those of the Central Powers in the trenches of northern France and Belgium. Although President Woodrow Wilson had been re-elected – winning the election on the slogan, "He kept us out of the war" – it became increasingly difficult to maintain that position.

After the Royal Navy had been engaged in a successful naval blockade against all German shipping for some time, the German Supreme High Command concluded that only a total submarine offensive would break the stranglehold. Although the decision was made on 9 January 1917, the Americans were not informed of the operation until 31 January.

The Germans abrogated their Sussex pledge (not to sink merchant ships without due warning and to save human lives wherever possible) and began an unrestricted U-boat campaign on 1 February 1917. Since it was obvious that US shipping would also come under attack in the course of this operation, it became just a matter of time before the USA was drawn into the conflict.

Germany had been pursuing various interests in Mexico since the beginning of the 20th century. Although a latecomer in the area, with Spain, Britain, and France having established themselves there centuries earlier, the Kaiser's Germany attempted to secure a continuing presence. This entailed many different approaches to the Mexican Republic and its changing, often revolutionary, governments as well as assuring the United States (most of the time) of Germany's peaceful intentions. German diplomacy in the area depended on sympathetic relations with the Mexican government of the day. Among the options discussed during Arthur Zimmermann's period in office was a German offer to improve communications between the two nations and a suggestion that Mexico purchase German submarines for its navy. After Francisco Villa's cross-border raids into New Mexico President Wilson sent a punitive expedition into Mexico to pursue the raiders.

This encouraged the Germans to believe (mistakenly) that this and other US concerns in the area would tie up US resources and military operations for some time to come, sufficiently to justify the overtures made by Arthur Zimmermann in his telegram to the Venustiano Carranza government. His proposals included an agreement for a German alliance with Mexico, while Germany would still try to maintain a state of neutrality with the United States. If this policy were to fail, the note suggested, the Mexican government should make common cause with Germany, try to persuade the Japanese government to join the new alliance, and attack the US. Germany for its part would promise financial assistance and the restoration of its former territories of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to Mexico.

Effect
On 24 February, the telegram was finally delivered to the US ambassador in Britain, Walter Hines Page, who two days later retransmitted it to President Wilson. On 1 March, the United States Government passed the text of the telegram to the press. At first, some sectors of the US papers, especially those of the Hearst press empire, questioned whether the telegram was a forgery made by British intelligence in an attempt to persuade the US government to enter the war on Britain's side. This opinion was reinforced by German and Mexican diplomats, as well as pro-German and pacifist opinion-formers in the United States. However, on 29 March 1917, Zimmermann gave a speech to the Reichstag confirming the text of the telegram and so put an end to all speculation as to its authenticity. By that time a number of US ships had been torpedoed with heavy loss of life.

On 2 April, President Wilson asked Congress to agree to declare war on Germany, citing, among other grievances, that Germany "means to stir up enemies against us at our very doors". On 6 April, Congress approved the resolution for war by a wide margin, with the Senate voting 82 to 6 in favor. The United States had entered World War I on the side of the Allies.

Arthur Zimmermann's speech
On 29 March 1917, Zimmerman delivered a speech intended to explain his side of the situation. He began that he had not written a letter to Carranza but had given instructions to the German ambassador via a "route that had appeared to him to be a safe one".

He also said that despite the submarine offensive, he had hoped that the USA would remain neutral. His instructions (to the Mexican government) were only to be carried out after the US declared war, and he believed his instructions to be "absolutely loyal as regards the US". In fact, he blamed President Wilson for breaking off relations with Germany "with extraordinary roughness" after the telegram was received, and that therefore the German ambassador "no longer had the opportunity to explain the German attitude, and that the US government had declined to negotiate".

Mexico's reply
Later, a general assigned by Carranza to assess the realities of a Mexican takeover of their former provinces came to the conclusion that it would not work. Taking over the three states would almost certainly cause future problems and possibly war with the US; Mexico would also be unable to accommodate a large Anglo population within its borders; and Germany would not be able to supply the arms needed in the hostilities that would surely arise. Carranza declined Zimmermann's proposals on 14 April.

The fact-finding mission of Nuncio Pacelli
At the end of June 1917, Zimmermann found the first real opportunity for paving the way to peace negotiations during his period of administration. At several meetings with the Bavarian Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli (later to become Pope Pius XII) and Uditore Schioppa, who were on a fact-finding mission, Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg and Zimmermann outlined their plans. There would be no annexations of territories, no border adjustments with Russia, Poland was to remain an independent state, all occupied areas of France and Belgium were to be evacuated, and Alsace-Lorraine would be ceded to France. The only exception in return was to be the restitution of all former German colonies to Germany. None of these plans came to fruition because neither of the two German participants would be very much longer in office. As an afterthought, it was Chancellor von Bethmann Hollweg's belief – unlike that of the General Staff's – that once the United States entered the war, the prospects for Germany would indeed be bleak.

Peace in the East
In March 1917, with the imminent collapse of the Russian front, Zimmermann took steps to promote Peace in the East with the Russians, a proposal that was of immense importance to Germany at the time. The foreign secretary set forth the following: regulations for frontline contacts with the opposite side; reciprocal withdrawal of the occupied areas; an amicable agreement about Poland, Lithuania, and Kurland; and a promise to aid Russia in its reconstruction and rehabilitation. Last but not least, Lenin and the émigré revolutionaries would be allowed to pass through Germany to Russia by train. These proposals once carried out, would free Germany's armies in the east and allow them to be concentrated in the west, a master-stroke that would reinforce the German western front vastly. Zimmermann thus contributed to the outcome of the October Revolution.

title: Arthur Zimmermann


text:
Transit police

Transit police (also known as transport police, railway police, railroad police and several other terms) are specialized police agencies employed either by a common carrier, such as a transit district, railway, railroad, bus line, or another mass transit provider or municipality, county, district, or state.

Transit law enforcement services may also be provided by a specialized unit within a larger local law enforcement agency. Their mandate is generally to prevent and investigate all crime committed against the carrier or its passengers and crime incidentally committed on or around the carrier's property.

Autonomous agencies
A transit police force may consist of officers employed directly by a transit system or by a government agency dedicated to providing specialized law enforcement services. There are numerous instances of both within United States, given the decentralized nature of US law enforcement; examples of larger, stand-alone agencies within the US include the MBTA Police, BART Police, and the New Jersey Transit Police Department. In the United Kingdom, transit law enforcement is provided by a single, nation-wide agency, the British Transport Police, although other law enforcement agencies may assist with this task. Within India, many transit policing services are conducted by the Government Railway Police.

Specialized units of local law enforcement agencies
Other forces may exist as a specialized unit of a local law enforcement agency, such as the United States' Transit Police Services Bureau of the Orange County, California Sheriff's Department (which serves the Orange County Transportation Authority) or the Transit Enforcement Unit of the Phoenix Police Department (assigned to the Phoenix Public Transit Department). Some formerly independent transit police agencies have also been absorbed into (or had their duties assumed by) a larger, local law enforcement agency; Examples include the LACMTA Police's duties being assumed by the LAPD Transit Services Division and the New York City Transit Police being integrated into the NYPD Transit Bureau.

Railroad police
Where the term "transit police" is used for a law enforcement agency or unit working for a railroad/railway, it usually refers to a railroad providing urban mass transit (such as a city-elevated system or subway) as opposed to long-distance rail carriage.

Law enforcement agencies of both cargo railroads and long-haul rail carriers are usually referred to as "railroad police" or "railway police". There is often considerable overlap in transit police and railroad police agencies’ duties. Railroad police agencies, however, have a long history, and were established separate from and prior to most modern transit police agencies. Transit police and railroad police powers may also be legally defined separately; For example, in the United States, many states have separate laws concerning both types of agencies.

However, in modern times, with increasing overlap in duties and the proliferation of extensive mass transit systems, some jurisdictions have opted for a hybrid model of railroad and transit policing. For instance, in the United Kingdom, most of the rail systems, including the London Underground, are policed by the British Transport Police (BTP). The BTP is a full-service, national law enforcement agency, which essentially combined the duties of dozens of now-defunct transit and railway police agencies into a single entity (the BTP has no authority in Northern Ireland, except in emergencies).

Powers
Some transit police forces have full policing powers, such as the US' BART Police, SEPTA's Transit Police, Metro Transit Police Department, Utah Transit Authority Police Department or the MBTA Police. The UK's British Transport Police, also has full police powers within Great Britain. In some areas, transit police agencies have limited or specific powers, and may be classed as special police or special constables, or peace officers with limited powers, such as Canada's Edmonton Transit Peace Officers. Regardless, transit police services nearly always hold more authority than un-sworn, security guard-only services.

Crimes
Some of the crimes transit police and railroad police investigate include trespassing on the right-of-way of a railroad, assaults against passengers, tagging of graffiti on railroad rolling stock and buses or bus stops, pickpocketing, ticket fraud, robbery and theft of personal belongings, baggage or freight, and drug dealing at transit stations. They may also engage in random ticket checking hoping to catch and fine ticketless travelers. These controls are usually more frequent in transit systems using an honor-based fare collecting approach.

Jurisdiction and authority
In federal states like the United States, Canada, or Australia, federal and state statutes determine the jurisdiction and authority of all police departments, including transit police.

Most transit police services have the same police authority as any other national, state and local police agencies, such as the MBTA Transit Police Department, MARTA (Atlanta) Transit Police, British Transport Police, New Jersey Transit Police Department, BART Police, Maryland Transit Administration Police, DART Police, SEPTA Transit Police, Utah Transit Authority Police Department, and the Metro Vancouver Transit Police (South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Police Service). Some agencies have rather extensive jurisdictions, including traffic enforcement and arrest powers on and off property, for example, the New Jersey Transit Police Department maintains the distinction of being the only transit police agency in the United States with statewide authority.

Australia
New South Wales
 * Commuter Crime Unit, New South Wales Police Force
 * New South Wales Police Force Police Transport & Public Safety Command as of 2013.
 * Transit Officers, RailCorp Closed down as of October 2013.

Queensland
 * Railway Squad, Queensland Police
 * Authorised Officers, Queensland Rail
 * Translink Senior Network Officers, Translink
 * Customer Service Officers, G:link
 * Translink Network Officers employed by Bus Operator companies under contract to Translink (Queensland)

South Australia
 * Transit Services Branch, South Australia Police (all public transport in Adelaide). Private security also maintain a presence, especially during peak hours or events.

Victoria
 * Transit Safety Division, Victoria Police members and Protective Services Officers (predominantly operate in Melbourne)
 * Authorised Officers employed by Public Transport operator companies and by Public Transport Victoria (PTV).

Western Australia
 * Police Rail Unit, Western Australia Police (operating in Perth)
 * Transit Officers, Public Transport Authority of Western Australia

Police services
There are two transit police agencies in Canada: the Metro Vancouver Transit Police, a provincially-regulated "designated policing unit" within TransLink, the transit authority for the Metro Vancouver Regional District in British Columbia; and the Via Rail Police Service, a federally-regulated railway police force operated by Via Rail, the provider of intercity rail service for all of Canada. There are also two other federally-regulated railway police services serving the country's two largest freight railways, the Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City.

Special constabularies
In Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec, large transit systems maintain special constabularies, a type of unarmed police force, to provide safety and law enforcement services on transit property. These agencies have authority over transit by-laws and provincial legislation; the Criminal Code of Canada in Ontario and Quebec; and their officers variously have the ability to use emergency vehicles with sirens (in Alberta, parts of Ontario, and Quebec) and carry a baton, handcuffs, and pepper spray or gel (in all four provinces).

List of transit special constabularies in Canada

 * Calgary Transit Public Safety and Enforcement Section
 * Edmonton Transit Protective Services
 * GO Transit Customer Protective Services
 * OC Transpo Special Constable Unit
 * Société de Transport de Montréal Sûreté des réseaux
 * Toronto Transit Commission Transit Enforcement Unit
 * Winnipeg Transit Safety Officers
 * York Region Transit Enforcement and Security

People's Republic of China
Cities in China which have rapid transit systems all have their transit police force associated to the local public security bureau. There are no non-governmental police forces, or police institutes under transit authority. National Rail used to have a police force under the Ministry of Railways, but such authority has since been transferred to local police agencies.

However, the structure of institutions can be vary from city to city. For example, cities like Tianjin and Chengdu might have a joint public transportation force of division level, operates on all the taxis, bus routes, coaches, rapid transit and ferry lines as well as transportation hubs inside city limit; while Chongqing and Xi'an have tighter transit cop brigades focused exclusively on protecting the mass transit lines. Again, all these agencies are supervised by the PSBs of higher level.

Hong Kong

 * Railway District, Hong Kong Police Force

France

 * Police Régionale des Transports (Police Nationale) - operates on Paris' suburban trains, and metro
 * Service National de Police Ferroviaire (Police Nationale-Direction Centrale de la Police aux Frontières) - operates on mainline trains
 * Service Interdépartemental de Sécurité dans les Transports en Commun (SISTC) - Police Nationale - Direction Centrale de la Sécurité Publique
 * Surveillance Générale (Suge) - operates on SNCF railways. This private service, run by the SNCF, has restricted police powers
 * Groupe de Protection et de Sécurisation des Réseaux (GPSR) - operates on RATP railways. This private service, run by the RATP, has restricted police powers
 * Police des Transports de l'Agglo Orléans Val de Loire - operates on bus, tram and train service in the Orléans Métropole

Germany

 * former German Democratic Republic: Transportpolizei
 * Federal Republic of Germany: Bahnpolizei (merged into Federal Police)

India

 * Railway Protection Force.

The Railway Protection Force is a security force, established by the Railway Protection Force Act, 1957 ; enacted by the Indian Parliament for "the better protection and security of railway property". The force is under the authority of the Ministry of Railways,.

It has the power to search, arrest, investigate and prosecute, though the ultimate power rests in the hands of the Government Railway Police.

 * Commando for Railway Security (CORAS)
 * Government Railway Police

The Government Railway Police (IAST: Sarakārī Rēlvē Pulīs), abbreviated as GRP, is the police force of the respective state governments, tasked with policing on railways and their premises. It operates under the respective state police forces. It was established by the Railways Act, 1989, of the Parliament of India. Its duties correspond to those of the District Police in the areas under their jurisdiction, such as patrolling and prevention and detection of crimes but only on railway property. It is the parent agency of the Railway Protection Force, and aids and provides assistance to it, whose primary duties are to protect and secure all railway property.

The GRP's responsibility is to observe law and order on all railway property. Officers are recruited from the Indian Police Service and State Police Services. The force is under control of the police departments of the various state police departments of India. It liaison with Ministry of Railways, Government of India.

Italy

 * Railway Police (Polizia Ferroviaria), Polizia di Stato

Latvia

 * Port Police (Ostas Policija)

Railway police

 * Railway Police Service (Unit insfrastructuur, dienst spoor), Dutch National Police (Landelijke Politie eenheid)

Transit enforcement

 * In The Netherlands, all public transport companies providing public service have their own enforcement officers, these officers often have the BOA status (special investigation officer) and limited police powers (use of force, arrest and use of handcuffs) the main task of these officers is fare enforcement and securing the safety of the public and employees within the transport vehicles.
 * The city of Amsterdam, is the only municipality in the Netherlands which operates its own transit enforcement department. The "Veiligheidsteam openbaar vervoer" (Safety team public transport) cooperates with the Amsterdam police in maintaining public order within the public transport, stations an hubs within the city limits, prevent or stop crimes, public assistance, issuing transit information and spotting suspicious behavior. Their uniforms are similar to that of police officers (police style hat, yellow high-visibility jacket and trousers with side striping; the only difference with the uniform of a police officer is that the trouser and hat color are dark grey whereas the police uses navy blue. These enforcement officers are employed by the city, whereas the police officers are employed by the national police. Enforcement officers are equipped with handcuffs and a short police baton and have limited police powers like the use of force, making arrests, detaining people and issuing fines. The city of Amsterdam is currently looking into the possibility to equip the officers with a can of pepperspray; this will probably be in mid 2014.

Poland
Railway Security Guard : Armed security forces protecting railway system in Poland

Russian Federation
Main Directorate of the Transport of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. (Главное Управление на Транспорте Министерства Внутренних Дел.)

Singapore

 * Public Transport Security Command, Singapore Police Force

Sweden

 * Swedish Police Authority, Stockholm metro police (Tunnelbanepolisen)

Taiwan

 * National Police Agency, Railway Police: Railway Police Bureau, MRT Police Taipei City Police Department Rapid Transit Division, Kaohsiung City Police Department Rapid Transit Division

United Kingdom

 * British Transport Police (national railways in Great Britain, the London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, West Midlands Metro, Tramlink, Tyne and Wear Metro - Sunderland extension, Glasgow Subway)
 * Belfast Harbour Police — Belfast Harbour, Belfast: HDPCA incorporated by section 5 of the Belfast Harbour Act 1847.
 * Port of Bristol Police — Port of Bristol, Bristol. Includes Avonmouth Dock, Bristol, Royal Portbury Dock, North Somerset, and 3 islands in the Bristol Channel: Denny Island, Flat Holme, Steep Holme.
 * Port of Felixstowe Police — Port of Felixstowe, Suffolk: HDPCA incorporated by section 3(1)(e) of the Felixstowe Dock and Railway Act 1956.
 * Port of Portland Police — Portland Harbour, Isle of Portland: HDPCA incorporated by section 3 of the Portland Harbour Revision Order 1997.
 * Falmouth Docks Police — Falmouth Docks, Falmouth, Cornwall: HDPCA incorporated by section 3 of the Falmouth Docks Act 1959.
 * Port of Dover Police — Port of Dover, Dover: HDPCA incorporated by section 3 of the Dover Harbour Consolidation Act 1954, and incorporation amended by part 4 of the Dover Harbour Revision Order 2006. Given the large amount of property owned by the port, their jurisdiction effectively extends to all of Dover and now throughout Kent in order to be able to take arrested persons to Custody Suites.
 * Port of Liverpool Police — Port of Liverpool, Liverpool: current authority derives from article 3 of the Mersey Docks and Harbour (Police) Order 1975. Port of Liverpool police officers are Crown police officers and not special constables.
 * Port of Tilbury Police (formerly the Port of London Authority Police) — Port of Tilbury, Essex: current authority derives from section 154 of the Port of London Act 1968
 * Tees and Hartlepool Port Authority Harbour Police — Tees and Hartlepool: current authority derives from section 103 of the Tees and Hartlepool Port Authority Act 1966
 * Roads and Transport Policing Command Safer Transport Teams, Metropolitan Police – Transport for London buses, bus stations/interchanges, taxis and roads.
 * Metro Unit, Northumbria Police
 * Metrolink Unit, Greater Manchester Police
 * Belfast International Airport Constabulary – attested under article 19(3) of the Airports (Northern Ireland) Order 1994 as constables for the airport, which employs them.
 * Mersey Tunnels Police – attested under section 105 of the County of Merseyside Act 1980 (c. x) as constables in and around the tunnels.

United States

 * Amtrak Police
 * BART Police
 * BNSF Police Department
 * Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority Police
 * Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Police Department
 * Delaware River and Bay Authority Police Department
 * Delaware River Port Authority Police Department
 * Greater Cleveland Transit Police Department
 * Honolulu Police Department
 * Long Beach Harbor Patrol
 * Los Angeles Airport Police
 * Los Angeles Port Police
 * Maryland Transit Administration Police
 * Maryland Transportation Authority Police
 * Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Transit Police Department
 * Metra Police Department (Chicago)
 * Metro Transit Police Department, King County Sheriff's Office
 * MetroLink Unit, St. Louis County Police Department
 * Airport Police Division, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department
 * Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) Police Department
 * Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) Transit Police Department
 * Metro Transit - Minnesota Police Department
 * Metro Transit Police (Akron, Ohio)
 * Napa Valley Railroad Police Department
 * New Jersey Transit Police Department
 * New York City Police Department Transit Bureau (New York City Subway)
 * New York City Transit Police - (Merged into the NYPD in 1995)
 * New York MTA Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police
 * New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway Police Department
 * Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority Transit Police Department
 * Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District Transit Police Department (South Shore Line)
 * OCTA-Transit Police Services Bureau, Orange County Sheriff's Department
 * Port Authority of Allegheny County Police Department
 * Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department (responsible for PATH)
 * Port of Portland Police Department (Oregon)
 * Public Transportation Section, Chicago Police Department
 * SEPTA Transit Police
 * Transit Services Bureau, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
 * Union Pacific Police Department
 * Utah Transit Authority Police DepartmentTransit Police Department
 * Statcom - Citywide MARTA Mission Critical Police Transit Division. A Multi - Jurisdiction Public Safety & Law Enforcement Division of Statcom - Citywide Mobility Area Rapid Transit Authority Mission Critical Co. United States & Canada HQ New York, NY, Los Angels, A, Chicago, ILL, Atlanta, GA & Toronto CN, Seattle Washington, Houston & Dallas TX  Washington,DC Global Central Command HQ

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Transit police


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Brian Gibson (director)

Brian Gibson (22 September 1944 – 4 January 2004) was an English film and television director.

Early life and education
Gibson was born 22 September 1944 in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. His mother, Victoria, was a shop assistant and his father was a carpenter. He had a sister, June. Gibson attended Southend High School for Boys. He attended St. Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he studied medicine. He also studied History of Science at Darwin College, Cambridge. He graduated from Cambridge University.

Career
In the late 1960s, Gibson began working for the BBC, directing scientific documentaries for their long-running series Horizon. One standout episode entitled "Joey," about Joey Deacon, a lifelong brain-damaged man who found a way to communicate with his family through another similarly affected patient at his hospital, won him an SFTA Award for Best Specialized Programme of 1974.

Gibson directed Helen Mirren in the 1979 BBC film Blue Remembered Hills and his work on that film won him a BAFTA Award for Best Director.

Gibson made his feature film directorial debut with Breaking Glass (1980). In 1986, he directed Poltergeist II: The Other Side. In 1989, he directed Ben Kingsley in the HBO television film Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story. In 1990, Gibson directed the miniseries Drug Wars: The Camarena Story, starring Steven Bauer and Benicio Del Toro. Gibson won a Primetime Emmy and a Directors Guild of America Award for directing the HBO television film The Josephine Baker Story (1991). In 1993, he directed the Oscar nominated film What's Love Got to Do with It, starring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne. This led to a first look deal with Touchstone Pictures. In 1996, he directed Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin in The Juror. In 1998, he directed the British film Still Crazy starring Bill Nighy and Billy Connolly. Gibson served as an executive producer for Frida (2002), starring Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina. He was preparing to direct a film for 20th Century Fox, and also collaborating on a script with his wife when he was diagnosed with cancer.

Personal life and death
Gibson had homes in London and Los Angeles.

In 1990, Gibson married Lynn Whitfield. They have a daughter Grace. Their marriage ended in divorce. After their divorce he married the artist Paula Rae Gibson, with whom he had another daughter, Raphaela.

Gibson died of bone cancer in London on 4 January 2004; he was 59.

Filmography

 * 1972 : Hospital, 1922 (episode of Horizon)
 * 1974 : Joey (episode of Horizon)
 * 1976 : The Billion Dollar Bubble (episode of Horizon)
 * 1976 : The Chauffeur (episode of BBC2 Playhouse)
 * 1976 : Where Adam Stood
 * 1978 : Dinner at the Sporting Club (episode of Play for Today)
 * 1979 : Gossip from the Forest (episode of Screenplay)
 * 1979 : Blue Remembered Hills (episode of Play for Today)
 * 1980 : Breaking Glass
 * 1983 : Kilroy Was Here
 * 1986 : Poltergeist II: The Other Side
 * 1989 : Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story
 * 1990 : Drug Wars: The Camarena Story
 * 1991 : The Josephine Baker Story
 * 1993 : What's Love Got to Do with It
 * 1996 : The Juror
 * 1998 : Still Crazy

title: Brian Gibson (director)


text:
LonWorks

LonWorks or Local Operating Network is an open standard (ISO/IEC 14908) for networking platforms specifically created to address the needs of control applications. The platform is built on a protocol created by Echelon Corporation for networking devices over media such as twisted pair, power lines, fiber optics, and wireless. It is used for the automation of various functions within buildings such as lighting and HVAC; see building automation.

Origins and uptake
The technology had its origins with chip designs, power lines, twisted pairs, signaling technology, routers, network management software, and other products from Echelon Corporation. In 1999 the communications protocol (then known as LonTalk) was submitted to ANSI and accepted as a standard for control networking (ANSI/CEA-709.1-B). Echelon's power line and twisted pair signaling technology were also submitted to ANSI for standardization and acceptance. Since then, ANSI/CEA-709.1 has been accepted as the basis for IEEE 1473-L (in-train controls), AAR electro-pneumatic braking systems for freight trains, IFSF (European petrol station control), SEMI (semiconductor equipment manufacturing), and in 2005 as EN 14908 (European building automation standard). The protocol is also one of several data link/physical layers of the BACnet ASHRAE/ANSI standard for building automation.

China ratified the technology as a national controls standard, GB/Z 20177.1-2006, and as a building and intelligent community standard, GB/T 20299.4-2006; and in 2007 CECED, the European Committee of Domestic Equipment Manufacturers, adopted the protocol as part of its Household Appliances Control and Monitoring – Application Interworking Specification (AIS) standards.

In 2008, ISO and IEC granted the communications protocol, twisted pair signaling technology, power line signaling technology, and Internet Protocol (IP) compatibility standard numbers ISO/IEC 14908-1, -2, -3, and -4.

Usage
By 2010, approximately 90 million devices were installed with LonWorks technology. Manufacturers in a variety of industries including building, home, street lighting, transportation, utility, and industrial automation have adopted the platform as the basis for their product and service offerings. Statistics as to the number of locations using the LonWorks technology are scarce, but products and applications built on top of the platform include such diverse functions as embedded machine control, municipal and highway/tunnel/street lighting, heating and air conditioning systems, intelligent electricity metering, subway train control, building lighting, stadium lighting and speaker control, security systems, fire detection and suppression, and newborn location monitoring and alarming, as well as remote power generation load control.

Technical details
Two physical-layer signaling technologies, twisted pair free topology and power-line carrier, are typically included in each of the standards created around the LonWorks technology. The two-wire layer operates at 78 kbit/s using differential Manchester encoding, while the power line achieves either 5.4 or 3.6 kbit/s, depending on frequency.

Additionally, the LonWorks platform uses an affiliated IP tunneling standard—ISO/IEC 14908-4 (ANSI/CEA-852) —in use by a number of manufacturers to connect the devices on previously deployed and new LonWorks platform-based networks to IP-aware applications or remote network-management tools. Many LonWorks platform-based control applications are being implemented with some sort of IP integration, either at the UI/application level or in the controls infrastructure. This is accomplished with Web services or IP-routing products available in the market.

An Echelon Corporation-designed IC consisting of several 8-bit processors, the Neuron chip was initially the only way to implement a LonTalk protocol node and is used in the large majority of LonWorks platform-based hardware. Since 1999, the protocol has been available for general-purpose processors: A port of the ANSI/CEA-709.1 standard to IP-based or 32-bit chips.

Applications using LonWorks

 * Semiconductor manufacturing
 * Lighting control systems
 * Energy management systems
 * Heating/ventilation/air-conditioning systems
 * Security systems
 * Home automation
 * Consumer appliance controls
 * Public street lighting, monitoring, and control
 * Petrol station control
 * Electronically controlled pneumatic braking
 * Distributed avionics

SNVTs (Standard Network Variable Types)
One of the keys to the interoperability of the system is the standardisation of the variables used to describe physical things to LonWorks. This standards list is maintained by LonMark International, and each standard parameter is known as Standard Network Variable Type (SNVT, pronounced "sniv-it.") For example, a thermostat might report temperature using the SNVT_temp, defined as a 2-byte integer between zero and 65535, and representing a temperature between -274.0 and 6279.5 degrees Celsius at a precision of 0.1 °C.

title: LonWorks


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Borough of St Edmundsbury

St Edmundsbury was a local government district and borough in Suffolk, England. It was named after its main town, Bury St Edmunds. The second town in the district was Haverhill. The population of the district was 111,008 at the 2011 Census.

The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 (along with the abolition of the county of West Suffolk) by the merger of the Borough of Bury St Edmunds, Haverhill Urban District, Clare Rural District and Thingoe Rural District.

Until March 2009, its main offices were in Bury St Edmunds (Angel Hill and Western Way). Thereafter, a purpose-built complex named West Suffolk House housed both St Edmundsbury and Suffolk County Council staff.

In 2008, the Council submitted a proposal to the Boundary Commission which would see it as central to a new West Suffolk unitary council. However, the proposal was rejected and no unitary scheme for Suffolk was adopted. (For more details see also Suffolk.)

In October 2011, St Edmundsbury Borough Council and Forest Heath District Council agreed to have one chief executive, a shared management team and a combined workforce.

St Edmundsbury and Forest Heath were merged on 1 April 2019 to form the new West Suffolk district.

List of communities
• Ampton

• Bardwell

• Barnardiston

• Barnham

• Barningham

• Barrow

• Bradfield Combust with Stanningfield

• Bradfield St Clare

• Bradfield St George

• Brockley

• Bury St Edmunds

• Cavendish

• Chedburgh

• Chevington

• Clare

• Coney Weston

• Cowlinge

• Culford

• Denham

• Denston

• Depden

• Euston

• Fakenham Magna

• Flempton

• Fornham All Saints

• Fornham St Genevieve

• Fornham St Martin

• Great Barton

• Great Bradley

• Great Livermere

• Great Thurlow

• Great Whelnetham

• Great Wratting

• Hargrave

• Haverhill

• Hawkedon

• Hawstead

• Hengrave

• Hepworth

• Honington

• Hopton

• Horringer

• Hundon

• Ickworth

• Ingham

• Ixworth

• Ixworth Thorpe

• Kedington

• Knettishall

• Lackford

• Lidgate

• Little Bradley

• Little Livermere

• Little Thurlow

• Little Whelnetham

• Little Wratting

• Market Weston

• Nowton

• Ousden

• Pakenham

• Poslingford

• Rede

• Risby

• Rushbrooke with Rougham

• Sapiston

• Stansfield

• Stanton

• Stoke-by-Clare

• Stradishall

• The Saxhams

• Thelnetham

• Timworth

• Troston

• West Stow

• Westley

• Whepstead

• Wickhambrook

• Withersfield

• Wixoe

• Wordwell

Freedom of the Borough
The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough of St Edmundsbury.

Individuals

 * Ronald Hartley: 1999.

Military Units

 * 3rd Air Force, USAF: 2000.
 * The Normandy Veterans' Association (Bury St Edmunds and District Branch No35): 2004.
 * 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment: 2006.
 * 3 Regiment Army Air Corps (Wattisham): 2010.

title: Borough of St Edmundsbury


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Membrane keyboard

A membrane keyboard is a computer keyboard whose "keys" are not separate, moving parts, as with the majority of other keyboards, but rather are pressure pads that have only outlines and symbols printed on a flat, flexible surface. Very little, if any, tactile feedback is felt when using such a keyboard.

Membrane keyboards work by electrical contact between the keyboard surface and the underlying circuits when keytop areas are pressed. These models were used with some early 1980s home computers, enjoying wide adoption in consumer electronics devices. The keyboards are quite inexpensive to mass-produce, and are more resistant against dirt and liquids than most other keyboards. However, due to a low or non-existent tactile feedback, most people have difficulty typing with them, especially when larger numbers of characters are being typed. Chiclet keyboards were a slight improvement, at least allowing individual keys to be felt to some extent.

Aside from early hobbyist/kit/home computers and some video game consoles, membrane-based QWERTY keyboards are used in some industrial computer systems, and are also found as portable, even "rollable-collapsible" designs for PDAs and other pocket computing devices. Smaller, specialised membrane keyboards, typically numeric-and-a-few-control-keys only, have been used in access control systems (for buildings and restricted areas), simple handheld calculators, domestic remote control keypads, microwave ovens, and other similar devices where the amount of typing is relatively small or infrequent, such as cell phones.

Modern PC keyboards are essentially a membrane keyboard mechanism covered with an array of dome switches which give positive tactile feedback.

Mechanism

The membrane (typically made out of Polyethylene terephthalate or PET) keyboard consists of three layers: two layers containing traces of conductive ink and the center layer is a "spacer" containing holes wherever a two conductive "key" pads count touch upon being pressed. The third layer keeps the other two layers separated in order to prevent short-circuit.

Under normal conditions, the switch (key) is open, because current cannot cross the non-conductive gap between the traces on the bottom layer. However, when the top layer is pressed down (with a finger), it makes contact with the bottom layer. The conductive traces on the underside of the top layer can then bridge the gap, allowing current to flow. The switch is now "closed", and the parent device registers a keypress.

Many applications benefit from the sealed nature of the membrane keypad. Feedback can easily be provided to the user via audible means (e.g. a beep) or visually (lights or via the display itself), or via both means together. For additional wear resistance, a simple, easily replaceable protective clear sheet can be placed in front of the membrane. Membrane keyboards are widely used in consumer electronics, industrial, commercial, scientific and military equipment.

title: Membrane keyboard


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EMS VCS 3

The VCS 3 (or VCS3; an initialism for Voltage Controlled Studio, version #3) is a portable analog synthesizer with a flexible modular voice architecture introduced by Electronic Music Studios (EMS) in 1969.

EMS released the product under various names. Logos printed at the console's front left (see photos) say "V.C.S. 3" on the most widely sold version; "The Putney (VCS 3)" on the earlier version; and "The Synthi (VCS 3) II" on the later version (Synthi VCS 3 II).

History
The VCS 3 was created in 1969 by Peter Zinovieff's EMS company. The electronics were designed largely by David Cockerell, and its distinctive appearance was the work of electronic composer Tristram Cary. It was one of the first portable commercially available synthesizers, in the sense that it was housed entirely in a small wooden case, unlike synths from American manufacturers such as Moog Music, ARP and Buchla, which had large cabinets and could take up entire rooms.

The VCS 3 cost just under £330 in 1969. Some people found it unsatisfactory as a melodic instrument due to its inherent tuning instability. This arose from the instrument's reliance on the then current method of exponential conversion of voltage to oscillator frequency—an approach that other companies also implemented with fewer tuning issues. However, the VCS 3 was renowned as an extremely powerful generator of electronic effects and processor of external sounds for its cost.

The first album recorded using only the VCS 3 was The Unusual Classical Synthesizer on Westminster Gold.

The VCS 3 was popular among progressive rock bands, and was used on recordings by Franco Battiato, The Moody Blues, The Alan Parsons Project, Jean-Michel Jarre, Todd Rundgren, Hawkwind, Curved Air, Brian Eno (with Roxy Music and as a solo artist or collaborator), King Crimson, The Who, Gong, and Pink Floyd, and many others. The VCS 3-generated bass sound at the beginning of Pink Floyd's "Welcome to the Machine" forms the foundation of the song, with its other parts heard in response. Two VCS 3s and a Sequencer 256 were featured in the 1978 film 'The Shout'.

Description
The VCS 3 has three oscillators (the first two normal voltage-controlled oscillators; the third a low-frequency oscillator), a noise generator, two input amplifiers, a ring modulator, 24 dB/octave low-pass voltage-controlled filter, a trapezoid envelope generator, a joystick controller, a voltage-controlled spring reverb unit, and two stereo output amplifiers. Unlike most modular synthesiser systems, which used cables to link components, the VCS 3 uses a distinctive patchboard matrix where pins are inserted to connect its components.

Keyboards controller

Although the VCS 3 is often used for generating sound effects due to lack of a built-in keyboard, external keyboard controllers were available for melodic play. The DK1, produced in 1969, is an early velocity-sensitive monophonic keyboard for VCS 3 with an extra VCO and VCA. In 1972 it was extended for duophonic play as DK2. Also in 1972, the Synthi AKS was released, as well as a digital sequencer with a touch-sensitive flat keyboard, the KS sequencer, and its mechanical keyboard version, DKS.

Related models
The VCS 3's basic design was reused by EMS in many other of their own products, most notably the EMS Synthi 100 (1971), the Synthi A (1971), and AKS (1972, essentially a VCS 3 in a plastic briefcase). The AKS also has a sequencer built into the keyboard's lid.

A former agent of EMS in the United States, Ionic Industries in Morristown, New Jersey, released a portable-keyboard VCS 3 clone in 1973. The Ionic Performer, whose circuitry is based on the VCS 3's, replaced the patchboard matrix with over 100 push-buttons, and added a built-in keyboard and effects units.

Synthi A

The EMS Synthi A has the same electronics as the VCS 3, but was rehoused in a Spartanite briefcase. Instead of routing signals using patch cables, like Moog products, it uses a patch matrix with resistive pins. The 2700 ohm resistors soldered inside each pin vary in tolerance, indicated by different colours: red pins have 1% tolerance, white have 5%, and green pins are attenuating pins with a resistance of 68,000 ohms.

The later Synthi AKS incorporated an early digital 256 event KS (Keyboard Sequencer) sequencer in the lid, with input provided by a capacitance-sensitive Buchla-style keyboard.

Perhaps its most prominent use is in the introduction to The Alan Parsons Project's I Robot. (1977). VCS 3 synthesisers were also used alongside a traditional chamber music ensemble for the soundtrack to the BBC's Life On Earth nature documentary series, composed by Edward Williams.

Along with Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream, other frequent users of the instrument include Cabaret Voltaire, Tim Blake & Miquette Giraudy of Gong, Richard Pinhas of Heldon, Merzbow, Thomas Lehn, Cor Fuhler and Alva Noto.

Development
The original VCS No.1 was a hand-built rack-mount unit with two oscillators, one filter and one envelope, designed by Cockerell before the formation of EMS. When a benefactor, Don Banks, asked Zinovieff for a synthesiser, Zinovieff and Cockerell decided to work together on an instrument that was small and portable but powerful and flexible.

Notable users

 * Brian Eno
 * Howie B on U2's Pop
 * Pink Floyd on Obscured by Clouds (1972), The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), and Wish You Were Here (1975)
 * Todd Rundgren
 * Pete Townshend
 * Jean-Michel Jarre
 * Tangerine Dream
 * The BBC Radiophonic Workshop

title: EMS VCS 3


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User:Clossius

Dear Clossius,

Are you still interested in the "Conflict Thesis" entry? I am currently conducting a seminar on A.D. White's "History of the warfare of Science with Theology" and am using Gary Ferngrens book as a counter-poise. I was quite astounded to find that the articles in Ferngren's book had hardly any references to works written before Draper's and White's books. I was also dismayed by Russell's dismissal of White's thousands of references as so much window-dressing, particularly in view of his lack of any original sources.

In our seminar we have come to realize that not distinguishing between Draper's "Religion" and White's "dogmatic theology" in their works lumps together two significantly different points of view. Moreover, the idea that White is the co-author of a "Conflict thesis" that purports to describe the totality of the relationship of science and religion is simply not founded in historical fact. In our view, he was simply trying to describe the warfare of science with dogmatic theology--nothing more. As you doubtless know, he was a devout Christian, and regarded the conflict he described as a danger to Christianity itself, as he describes in his introduction to his book.

Given the local Zeitgeist of the historians of science--there may be little to be done here. Yet, I think it might be worthwhile to insert a few cautions in the Conflict thesis entry. I am new to Wikipedia, and so I have turned to you to offer my help, should you wish to take up the topic again.

Sincerely, Bleistifter. (actual name on request)

title: User:Clossius


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Archbishop of America

The Archdiocese of America, better known as the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, is a jurisdiction of the Eastern Orthodox Church under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. It was formally constituted in 1922 and has had seven Archbishops. The Archdiocese currently covers the United States and one parish in the Bahamas, and is mostly Greek-American in composition and culture.

Archbishops of America
The following individuals have held the office of Archbishop of America:

 * Alexander (Demoglou), Archbishop of America (1922–1930)
 * Athenagoras, Archbishop of America (1931–1948)
 * Timotheos, Archbishop of America (Elected in 1949)
 * Michael, Archbishop of America (1949–1958)
 * Iakovos, Archbishop of America (1959–1996)
 * Spyridon, Archbishop of America (1996–1999)
 * Demetrios, Archbishop of America (1999–2019)
 * Elpidophoros, Archbishop of America (2019 to present)

Archbishops of the Russian Diocese of the Aleutians and North America
The Diocese of the Aleutians and North America was a pan-ethnic and missionary jurisdiction of the Eastern Orthodox Church under the Russian Orthodox Church from 1900 to 1922. (Before this period it was known as the "Diocese of the Aleutians and Alaska" from 1870 to 1900; before that, it was part of the Diocese of Kamchatka, Russia, from 1840 to 1870, and before that, of the Diocese of Irkutsk, Russia. From the 1920s until 1970 it was the "Metropolia of All America and Canada" [a/k/a the "Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in America"], and since 1970 it has also been known as "The Orthodox Church in America," covering the United States, Canada, Mexico, and two parishes in Australia.) From 1905 to 1922, its incumbents held the title of Archbishop:

 * Saint Tikhon
 * Bishop of the Aleutians and Alaska, 1898-1900
 * Bishop of the Aleutians and North America, 1900-1905
 * Archbishop of the Aleutians and North America, 1905-1907
 * Platon (Rozhdestvensky), Archbishop of the Aleutians and North America, 1907-1914
 * Evdokim (Meschersky), Archbishop of the Aleutians and North America, 1914-1918
 * Alexander (Nemolovsky), Archbishop of the Aleutians and North America, 1919-1922

Since 1922 its incumbents and primates have held the title of Metropolitan of All America and Canada. Today it is majority-Russian in ecclesiastical heritage, but with significant Romanian, Albanian, Bulgarian, and Mexican (in Mexico) jurisdictions and at least one Arab parish - all largely English- (or Spanish-)speaking - as well as increasing numbers of transfers from other Orthodox jurisdictions, and converts to Orthodoxy.

Archbishops of the Russian Exarchate of North America
The Russian Exarchate of North America was another jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church under its Patriarchate of Moscow from 1933 to 1970. While most of its bishops were titled Metropolitans of varying Sees, the final one was

 * Jonathan (Kopolovitch), Archbishop of New York and the Aleutians, 1967–1970.

Moscow was permitted to replace this Exarchate, and a diocese in Canada, with a non-diocesan patriarchal vicariate in each country, the United States and Canada, when it and the Metropolia were reconciled, and Moscow recognized the Metropolia's autocephaly, in 1970. These vicariates form the "Russian Orthodox Patriarchal Parishes in the USA", sometimes described as "Russian Orthodox Church in the USA", with some patriarchal parishes in Canada.

title: Archbishop of America


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Watkins Glen International

Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track in the northeastern United States, located in Dix, New York, just southwest of the village of Watkins Glen, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. It is long known around the world as the former home of the Formula One United States Grand Prix, which it hosted for twenty consecutive years (1961–1980). In addition, the site has also been home to road racing of nearly every class, including the World Sportscar Championship, Trans-Am, Can-Am, NASCAR Cup Series, the International Motor Sports Association, and the IndyCar Series. The facility is currently owned by NASCAR.

The course was opened in 1956 to host auto races previously held on public roads in and around the village. The circuit's current layout has more or less been the same since 1971, with minor modifications after the fatal crashes of François Cevert (1973) and J.D. McDuffie (1991).

The site has also hosted several music concerts: the 1973 Summer Jam, featuring The Allman Brothers Band, the Grateful Dead, and The Band and was attended by 600,000 fans; and two Phish festivals: Super Ball IX in 2011 and Magnaball in 2015.

Layouts
The Watkins Glen International racecourse has undergone several changes over time, with five general layouts widely recognized over its history. Currently, two distinct layouts are used: the "Boot" layout (long course) and the "NASCAR" layout (short course).

Public roads
The first races in Watkins Glen were organized by Cameron Argetsinger, whose family had a summer home in the area. With local Chamber of Commerce approval and SCCA sanction, the first Watkins Glen Grand Prix took place in 1948 on a 6.600 mi course over local public roads. For the first few years, the races passed through the heart of the town with spectators lining the sidewalks. However, after a car driven by Fred Wacker left the road in the 1952 race, killing seven-year-old Frank Fazzari and injuring several others, the race was moved to a new location on a wooded hilltop southwest of town. The original course is listed in the New York State Register and National Register of Historic Places as the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Course, 1948–1952.

The second layout (4.600 mi) began use in 1953 and also used existing roads. The Watkins Glen Grand Prix Corporation was formed to manage spectators, parking, and concessions ; this arrangement lasted three years.

Grand Prix Course

The first permanent course, known as the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course was constructed on 550 acre, overlapping part of the previous street course. Designed by Bill Milliken and engineering professors from Cornell University, the 2.350 mi layout was used from 1956 to 1970. In 1968, the sports car race was extended to six hours.

Short Course
The circuit underwent a major overhaul for the 1971 season. The "Big Bend" and the turns leading up to it were eliminated and replaced with a new pit straight. The pits and start/finish line were moved to this new straightaway. "The 90" now became Turn 1 instead of Turn 8.

When the 1971 Six Hours of Watkins Glen arrived in July 1971, the overall circuit renovations were still unfinished. The short course had been finished, but the Boot segments were not complete, nor was the new pit area. The 1971 Six Hours race was run on the short course layout. That layout colloquially became known as the 1971 Six Hours Course. In addition, for 1971 only, the cars used the original start/finish line and the old pits.

When NASCAR returned to the track in 1986, it used the short course layout. IMSA initially used the "Boot", but eventually, that series also began using the shorter 1971 layout.

The short course was slightly lengthened in 1992 (see "Inner Loop" below).

Long Course (The "Boot")
The most significant change to the track, a new segment known as "The Boot", was finished in time for the Formula One race in 1971. The start-finish line was moved to the new pit straight as planned. At the end of the backstretch, after the Loop-Chute, cars swept left into a new four-turn complex that departed from the old layout, curling left-hand downhill through the woods. The track followed the edge of the hillside to two uphill right-hand turns, over an exciting blind crest into a right-hand turn, down and up into a left-hand turn rejoining the old track.

The new layout measured 3.377 mi; with its intrinsic link to the Formula One race, it became known colloquially as the Grand Prix Circuit.

For 1972, the Six Hours sportscar race also began using the full "Boot" layout. By that time, nearly all facility improvements were completed. The pits and start/finish line were permanently moved to the new pit straight.

In 1973, French driver François Cevert, a previous winner at the Glen, died in a crash during practice at the 1973 United States Grand Prix. This led course officials in 1975 to add a fast right-left chicane to slow speeds in the turn 3-4 Esses section. Dubbed the "Scheckter Chicane", it was eliminated in 1985.

In the early 1990s, the IMSA sports cars bypassed the "Boot" in favor of the short course. NASCAR events have never used the Boot layout. The "Long/Boot" course was slightly lengthened in 1992 (see "Inner Loop" below). In the mid-2000s, the Boot segment, which had seen little use in many years, was repaved and upgraded. When the IndyCar Series returned to Watkins Glen starting in 2005, they used the Boot segment.

The entire course was repaved in 2015. There has been a renewed interest and appreciation of the full Grand Prix Course layout in recent years. Consideration had even been made for NASCAR to start using the Boot.

Inner Loop
The most recent significant change to the course was made in 1992, after several serious crashes at the "Loop" at the end of the backstretch. During the 1989 Budweiser at the Glen, Geoff Bodine blew a tire at the end of the backstretch. He broke into a hard spin and sailed straight off the track, crashing head-on into the barrier. In 1991, during the IMSA Camel Continental VIII, Tommy Kendall's Intrepid RM-1 prototype crashed in the Loop, severely injuring his legs. Seven weeks later, NASCAR Winston Cup driver J. D. McDuffie died in an accident at the same site during the 1991 Budweiser at The Glen.

Before the 1992 season, track officials constructed a bus stop chicane along the back straight just before the Loop. Dubbed the "Inner Loop", it led into what was now being called the "Outer Loop." This addition slightly increased the lap distance for both layouts.

Watkins Glen Grand Prix
Along with the annual SCCA race, the track hosted its first professional race (NASCAR Grand National Division) in 1957. It hosted its first international event with the Formula Libre races from 1958 to 1960. Among the drivers participating were Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss, Phil Hill, and Dan Gurney.

United States Grand Prix
After two editions of the Formula One United States Grand Prix that were deemed less than successful (Sebring in 1959, and Riverside in 1960), promoters were looking for a new venue to become the permanent home for the United States Grand Prix.

In 1961, just six weeks before the scheduled date for another Formula Libre race that fall, Argetsinger was tapped to prepare Watkins Glen for the final round of the Formula One World Championship. While many of the necessary preparations had already been made, new pits were constructed to satisfy international standards of pit boxes with overhead cover.

Seven American drivers participated, and the 1961 United States Grand Prix was won by British driver Innes Ireland in a Lotus-Climax. American Dan Gurney driving a Porsche 718 placed second. Having already won both Driver's and Constructor's World Championships and still mourning the death of Wolfgang von Trips at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari decided not to compete in the United States GP. Ferrari's decision not to travel to the United States for the season's final round deprived Hill of participating in his home race as the newly crowned World Champion, and Hill appeared only as the event's Grand Marshal.

The United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen quickly became an autumnal tradition as huge crowds of knowledgeable racing fans flocked to Upstate New York each year amid the region's spectacular autumn leaf color. The race was also among the most popular on the global Grand Prix calendar with the teams and drivers because its starting and prize money often exceeded those of the other races combined. The race received the Grand Prix Drivers' Association award for the best organized and best staged GP of the season in 1965, 1970, and 1972.

One fixture of the USGP at Watkins Glen was the starter for the races, Richard Norman "Tex" Hopkins. Hopkins was the most recognizable starter in Grand Prix racing, wearing a lavender suit, clenching a big cigar in his mouth, and giving the job everything he had. Once the cars had taken their places, Hopkins strode across the front of the grid with his back to the field, turned, and jumped into the air while waving the national flag to start the race. He would similarly meet the winner at the finish, this time waving the checkered flag as the car crossed the line.

Before the 1971 race, the course underwent its most significant changes of the Grand Prix era, as it was extended from 2.35 mi to 3.377 mi by the addition of four corners in a new section called the 'Boot' or 'Anvil'. The new layout departed from the old course near the south end into a curling downhill left-hand turn through the woods. The track followed the edge of the hillside to two consecutive right-hand turns, over an exciting blind crest to a left-hand turn, and back onto the old track. In addition, the circuit was widened and resurfaced. The pits and start-finish line were moved back before the northwest right-angle corner known as "The 90". In 1975, a fast right-left chicane was added to slow speeds through the series of corners in the Esses section.

Despite the improvements, the circuit was unsafe for the increasingly faster and stiffer ground effect cars of the late 1970s. A few horrendous, sometimes fatal accidents occurred (such as those that claimed the lives of Helmut Koinigg and François Cevert). Increasingly rowdy segments of the crowd began to tarnish its image as well. Finally, in May 1981, several months after Alan Jones had won the 1980 race for Williams, the International Auto Sports Federation removed the race from its schedule because the track had failed to pay its $800,000 debt to the teams.

American road-racing Mecca
The Glen hosted a variety of other events throughout the Grand Prix years: from Can-Am, Trans-Am, IROC, and Endurance Sports car racing, to Formula 5000 and the CART series, these races strengthened the circuit's reputation as the premier road racing facility in the United States. From 1968 through 1981, the "Six Hours at The Glen" endurance race featured top drivers such as Mario Andretti, Jacky Ickx, Pedro Rodríguez, and Derek Bell. Different races were sometimes featured together on the same weekend (e.g., Six Hours and Can-Am) and drew sizable crowds. However, without a Formula One race, the circuit struggled to survive. It finally declared bankruptcy and closed in 1981.

Renovation
The track was not well maintained for two years and hosted only a few SCCA meets without spectators. In 1983, Corning Enterprises, a subsidiary of nearby Corning, partnered with International Speedway Corporation to purchase the track and rename it Watkins Glen International.

The renovated track, with the chicane at the bottom of the Esses removed, reopened in 1984 with the return of IMSA with the Camel Continental I, which would be conducted until 1995, with the last two years under the name "The Glen Continental" after Camel's withdrawal from IMSA. (The event was numbered with Roman numerals.)

In 1986, the top NASCAR series returned to Watkins Glen after a long layoff, holding one of only three road races on its schedule (two beginning in 1988), using the 1971 Six Hours course, raced when the new section off the Loop-Chute was not finished in time. As the cars come off the Loop-Chute, instead of making the downhill left into Turn 6, the cars shot straight through the straight and headed toward Turn 10, as was the case from 1961 until 1970.

NASCAR Busch Series (now called Xfinity Series) action would arrive in 1991 with a 150 mi race on the weekend of the Camel Continental, won by Terry Labonte, who would be a master of the circuit during its Busch Series races, winning the inaugural race, and winning three consecutive races from 1995 until 1997. The 1995 race would be the first conducted as a 200 mi race, and became the first Busch Series race to be televised on broadcast network television, as CBS broadcast the race live until TNN took over in 1997.

Only twice—1998 and 1999—did a Busch Series regular driver win the race. The first seven races were won by Winston Cup Series regular drivers, sometimes referred to as "Buschwhackers", during their off-week. In 1998, the race went against the Cup race in Sonoma, California, eliminating the idea, and stayed that way until 2000. In 2001, the race was run the day after the first Saturday in July.

However, the race was eliminated from the schedule after the 2001 season, only to return in 2005 as an undercard to the Nextel Cup race.

A pair of incidents in 1991 resulted in a massive overhaul of the circuit's safety. During the IMSA Camel Continental VIII, Tommy Kendall's prototype crashed in Turn 5, severely injuring his legs. Seven weeks later, NASCAR Cup Series driver J. D. McDuffie died in an accident at the same site in the 1991 Budweiser at the Glen. Track officials added a bus stop chicane to the back straight in Spring 1992.

In 1996, the Glen Continental reverted to a six-hour format, again called the Six Hours at the Glen with the IMSA format, and stayed there until a split in American sports car racing. In 1998, the race became an event sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America under their United States Road Racing Championship. In 1999, the FIA GT series staged a 500 km race of three hours with some USRRC entrants after USRRC canceled the last two rounds of their season before their six-hour event at the track. The following year, the six-hour race returned once again with the newly founded Grand American Road Racing Association (Grand-Am) sanctioning the event. The event is now sanctioned by IMSA with the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The six-hour race is now the third part of the four-part North American Endurance Cup series.

In 1997, International Speedway Corporation became the sole owner of the course, as Corning Enterprises believed they had completed their intended goals to rebuild the race track and increase tourism in the southern Finger Lakes region of New York State.

The circuit annually hosts one of the nation's premier vintage events, the Zippo U.S. Vintage Grand Prix. When the fiftieth anniversary of road racing in Watkins Glen was celebrated during the 1998 racing season, this event was the climax, returning many original cars and drivers to the original 6.6 mi street circuit through the village during the Grand Prix Festival Race Reenactment.

After a 25-year layoff, major-league open-wheel racing returned to the track as one of three road courses on the 2005 Indy Racing League schedule. In preparation, the circuit was overhauled again. Grandstands from Pennsylvania's Nazareth Speedway, which had closed, were installed, the gravel in The 90 was removed and replaced with a paved runoff area, and curbing was cut down for the Indy Racing League event. Previously, the high curbing in the chicane had become a place where Cup Series cars would bounce high off the curbing, creating an ideal opportunity for cars to lose control and to slow cars. Other areas of the track received improvements: the exits of turn 2 (the bottom of the esses), the chicane, turn 6 (the entrance to the boot), turn 9, and turn 11 all had additional runoff areas created and safety barrier upgrades. The carousel runoff was paved, and turn 1 (the 90), and the esses were paved in the winter of 2006–07. Augmenting what was already in place along the front stretch, additional high safety fences were installed on the overpasses crossing the service roads at the top of the esses and just out of the boot immediately after the exit of turn 9.

Another overhaul for 2006 made fundamental changes to the circuit for the first time since 1992. Officials installed a new control tower, which includes booths for the officials, timing and scoring, television and radio (the new position allows broadcasters to see more action from Turn 10 through the foot of the Esses), and the public address announcer on top of the new front stretch grandstand, moving the start-finish line farther ahead of the bridge, as the start-finish line is moved 380 ft farther toward The 90 in order to accommodate the new timing and scoring post. The new start-finish line also meant the starting lights used for club races were moved farther ahead, creating more action off Turn 11 as tactics changed with the later finish line, where slingshot moves could become paramount to the finish. A new media center was constructed to replace the former building, which also had been the control tower with the 1971 improvements. The aging structure had been the bane of many professional media members during those years with many uncomplimentary things published and broadcast about its inadequacies, especially the lack of insulation, air conditioning, few (if any) amenities that other facilities had, which resulted in race control moving to the new control tower at the start-finish line in 2006. Plans were made to move the new media center back to allow an entire 43-car NASCAR grid. Other changes to the infrastructure included the purchase of adjoining property. Most of Bronson Hill Road was incorporated as a service road to the facility. A new section of Bronson Hill leading up from NY 414 was built as the main ingress road to the facility, bending south at Gate 6 and continuing to County Road 16, just south of the credentials and sheriff's office buildings. Track safety also is constantly changing, and constant training is needed. Race Services Inc. provides the track with volunteers to work Fire-Rescue, Medical, Grid personnel, and Corner workers to help keep drivers and spectators safe.

The Argetsinger family is an advisor to the circuit. The track named the trophy for the inaugural Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix presented by Argent in honor of the late patriarch, Cameron.

On Tuesday, March 6, 2007, just before 9 pm, a fire destroyed the recently remodeled Glen Club situated on top of the esses. Originally called the Onyx Club (named for the sponsor, Onyx Cologne), the Glen Club was used primarily as an upscale venue for race fans. After being recently remodeled, it was advertised as a social venue for locals for weddings, business meetings, etc. No cause could be determined, and the building was a total loss. The loss included irreplaceable, unique original motorsport artwork donated to the facility by several artists and other racing memorabilia. Glen officials were quoted in local media stories as being adamant that the loss of the Glen Club would not affect the 2007 racing schedule.

For 2007, Watkins Glen International again improved the facility, specifically the track surface. All of turns 1 (the "90"), 5 (the "Loop-Chute") and 6 (entry turn into the "Boot") were repaved. A temporary "Glen Club" replaced the permanent structure destroyed by fire at the races in 2007, which was replaced with another permanent building. New sponsors for both the INDY and NASCAR weekends were signed to multi-year deals. Camping World became the sponsor of the "Camping World Grand Prix" INDY weekend at the Glen through 2010. The NASCAR weekend at the Glen received a double shot—Zippo Manufacturing announced a three-year extension of the Busch-Nationwide Series race, the "Zippo 200". The NASCAR Cup Series race became known as "The Heluva Good! Sour Cream dips at the Glen". Additionally, Brad Penn lubricants of Pennsylvania (former Kendall Oil refinery) was announced as the sponsor of the annual vintage sports car weekend for 2007 and 2008. IndyCar took a six-year hiatus from the facility when the series pulled out of the Glen after 2010 due to a dispute with track owner ISC.

In June 2011, Tony Stewart and Lewis Hamilton participated in the "Mobil 1 Seat Swap". Stewart drove his No. 14 Mobil 1 Chevy for four laps around the circuit while Hamilton drove the MP4-23, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes's entry in the 2008 Formula One season. After some time, both drivers swapped cars and drove more laps around the circuit. The event was open to the public, and it was hoped that it would renew interest in the track. Before this event, the curbs on some of the turns were changed, the white rumble strips being replaced by the more common, red-white designs seen on most road courses around the world.

In July 2011, WGI hosted a Phish concert. This is the first concert that WGI has held since the Summer Jam.

In October 2012, the track suffered damage from Hurricane Sandy, with damage reported to be up to $50,000.

Prior to the 2014 season, the track cleaned out a storage barn on track property when the original Dunlop Bridge was found. The bridge was initially used as a VIP area for Dunlop until being moved for use as the starters stand years later. It was taken down and replaced by a new starters stand during renovations in 2006. The bridge was put back up at the exit to the 90 near the original location where it once stood near the original start/finish line for the track and is now once again used for VIP use by companies on race weekends, with the company sponsoring the bridge.

After the 2014 racing season, it was announced that the 2015 racing season would conclude with the NASCAR weekend in early August. This was to allow for a complete repaving of the track. The repave involved removing the entire racing surface. In some places, the track was taken down to the dirt roadbed. This was funded not only by International Speedway Corporation but with a grant from New York State.

In March 2015, due to their previous concert's success, Phish said they would do another concert at WGI in late August.

In August 2015, with repaving already having taken place in the Boot, NASCAR announced that they are considering running the complete Grand Prix Course. But as of 2022, NASCAR is still not using the Boot, and the use or not of the Boot is still a debate between NASCAR and fans.

2016 would see the return of IndyCar racing to Watkins Glen, with the track being added to the schedule following the collapse of plans for a street race in Boston. It was held over the Labor Day weekend and used the full layout: ICS officials were also negotiating with WGI to race there permanently.

Events

 * Current

 * June: IMSA SportsCar Championship 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, Michelin Pilot Challenge Watkins Glen International 120, Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, Global MX-5 Cup, Trans-Am West Coast Championship
 * July: Ferrari Challenge North America, Porsche Sprint Challenge North America
 * August: Trans-Am Series Watkins Glen SpeedTour
 * September: NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at The Glen, NASCAR Xfinity Series Mission 200 at The Glen, ARCA Menards Series General Tire 100 at The Glen, Sportscar Vintage Racing Association
 * October: National Auto Sport Association

 * Former

 * Can-Am (1969–1974, 1977–1981)
 * Championship Auto Racing Teams
 * Watkins Glen 200 (1979–1981)
 * FIA GT Championship
 * Bosch Sports Car Oktoberfest (1999)
 * Formula One
 * United States Grand Prix (1961–1980)
 * GT World Challenge America (1992, 1996–1998, 2007–2010, 2018–2019, 2021–2022)
 * IMSA GT Championship
 * 6 Hours of Watkins Glen (1984–1997)
 * Crown Royal 200 at the Glen (1984–1991)
 * IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge (2013–2019)
 * IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge Canada (2016–2017)
 * IMSA SportsCar Championship
 * WeatherTech 240 at the Glen (2021)
 * Indy Lights (2005–2010, 2016–2017)
 * IndyCar Series
 * Grand Prix at The Glen (2005–2010, 2016–2017)
 * International Race of Champions (1986–1989, 1991)
 * NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
 * United Rentals 176 (1996–2000, 2021)
 * NASCAR K&N Pro Series East
 * Great Outdoors RV Superstore 100 (1993–2004, 2008–2009, 2014–2019)
 * NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (1996–2000)
 * Porsche Carrera Cup North America (2022–2023)
 * Pro Mazda Championship (2008, 2017)
 * Rolex Sports Car Series
 * 6 Hours of Watkins Glen (2000–2013)
 * Crown Royal 200 at the Glen (2001–2011)
 * SCCA National Sports Car Championship
 * 6 Hours of Watkins Glen (1956–1962)
 * Glen Classic (1963)
 * The Glen 500 (1964)
 * Stadium Super Trucks (2017)
 * United States Road Racing Championship
 * 6 Hours of Watkins Glen (1963–1968, 1998)
 * US F2000 National Championship (1994–1998, 2000–2002, 2017)
 * World Sportscar Championship
 * 6 Hours of Watkins Glen (1968–1981)

Lap records
As of July 2024, the fastest official race lap records at Watkins Glen International are listed as:

NASCAR Cup Series records
* from minimum 10 starts.

title: Watkins Glen International


text:
User:Art Carlson

This user believes it is a waste of time to format his user page for aesthetics.

I am a Ph.D. physicist raised in Oregon and Mississippi and living since 1986 in Munich, Germany. I spent most of my career doing research on fusion energy before leaving to do software development with a dot-com start-up. After free-lancing a while in plasma technology, technology assessment, and project management, I worked several years on grid computing and astronomy, originally in AstroGrid-D at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, then in various D-Grid projects at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre, and finally at the University Observatory Munich. I did image processing at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry for a while and then several years of mass spectrometry-based proteomics (MaxQuant) there. Every day I work in biology, I am reminded how easy physics is. My hobbies (not all currently pursued) include various forms of mountaineering and snow sports, tennis, and piano. I am married to a German journalist and have four adorable children.

I have made sizeable Wikipedia contributions on plasma physics (especially Langmuir probes), fusion energy (especially aneutronic fusion), on sundials (the Equation of Time). I have also dabbled in things like homeopathy, modern geocentrism, and astrology.

In summer of 2009 my interest in field-reversed configurations as a potential basis for fusion power plants was rekindled. I would like to build up a comprehensive source of information on this possibility somewhere on the Web. Certainly expanding the Wikipedia article is a good way to start, and worthwhile independent of what other portal might be created. To provide a workspace for this, I am creating the sub-page /Expansions of FRC article here. You are encouraged to contribute. (Note: This project has gotten drowned by more pressing concerns. It's still a good idea, though.)

I toyed a bit with the physics of the Powerball. My notes are here.

I have become less active in Wikipedia in the last few years, but that is bound to change again someday.

title: User:Art Carlson


text:
Bitterroot Range

The Bitterroot Range is a mountain range and a subrange of the Rocky Mountains that runs along the border of Montana and Idaho in the northwestern United States. The range spans an area of 24223 mi2 and is named after the bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva), a small pink flower that is the state flower of Montana.

History
In 1805, the Corps of Discovery, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and aided by Sacajawea of the Shoshone tribe, crossed the Bitterroot Range several times. Lewis first crossed the mountains at Lemhi Pass on August 12, then returned across the pass to meet Clark. The entire expedition then crossed the pass to the Salmon River valley, and the next month entered the Bitterroot Valley from the south via either Lost Trail Pass or Chief Joseph Pass. It then crossed Lolo Pass to the west. The mountains were crossed by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (the "Milwaukee Road").

Ranges
According to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, the Bitterroot Range runs from Pend Oreille Lake (near Sandpoint, Idaho) to Monida Pass,. It is sometimes considered to extend east of the Monida Pass to include the Centennial Mountains. The range comprises the following subranges (from north to south):

Coeur d'Alène Mountains
The Coeur d'Alène Mountains are the northwesternmost portion of the Bitterroot Range and encompass an area of 2590 mi2. The mountain range's two highest peaks are the 7,352 foot (2,241 m) Cherry Peak and the 6,837 foot (2,084 m) Patricks Knob.

Saint Joe Mountains
The Saint Joe Mountains, the smallest named portion of the Bitterroot Range, encompass an area of 698 square miles (1,808 km2). They lie between the St. Joe River on the south, the Coeur d'Alene River on the north, the Slate Creek saddle on the east and the plateau of the Moscow, Idaho/Pullman, Washington area on the Idaho/Washington border.

Bitterroot Mountains
The Bitterroot Mountains, comprising the Northern and Central Bitterroot Ranges, are the largest portion of the Bitterroot Range and encompass an area of 4,862 square miles (12,593 km2). The mountains are bordered on the north by Lolo Creek, on the south by the Salmon River, on the east by the Bitterroot River and Valley, and on the west by the Selway and Lochsa Rivers. Its highest summit is Trapper Peak, at 10,157 feet (3,096 m).

Beaverhead Mountains
The Beaverhead Mountains encompass an area of 4,532 square miles (11,738 km2). They lie to the east of the Bitterroot Mountains and lie to the west of the Big Hole Basin and the Pioneer Mountains. Passes in the mountains include Lemhi Pass, Bannock Pass, Big Hole Pass, Big Hole Pass II, Junction Pass and Monida Pass. The Beaverheads are further subdivided into the West Big Hole Mountains, the Big Hole Divide, the Tendoy Mountains, the Italian Peaks, and the Garfield Peaks.

Centennial Mountains
The Centennial Mountains encompass an area of 2,064 square miles (5,346 km2).

The Centennials are home to Brower's Spring, discovered in 1888 by Jacob V. Brower, which is believed to be the furthest point on the Missouri River. Brower published his finding in 1896 in "The Missouri: Its Utmost Source."

The site of Brower's Spring is at about 8,800 feet (2,680 m) in elevation in the Centennials. The site is now commemorated by a rock cairn at the source of Hellroaring Creek, which flows into Red Rock River and then into Clark canyon reservoir, where it joins the Beaverhead River and then the Big Hole River, before ultimately joining with the Jefferson River.

In popular culture

 * The Bitterroot Range is featured in the 2004 alternate history novel, Dies the Fire, by S.M. Stirling.

title: Bitterroot Range


text:
Chinatown bus lines

Chinatown bus lines are discount intercity bus services in the United States, often operated by Chinese Americans, primarily Fujianese. They operate with lower overhead and lower fares compared to competing services. Destinations include most major cities as well as casinos popular with Asian Americans.

As a result of safety issues and several fatal crashes, most Chinatown bus lines were shut down by regulatory authorities in 2012. Others continue to operate with increased oversight.

Early history
Chinese-operated intercity bus service began when the Chinese working class and new immigrants, particularly Chinese restaurant workers who found jobs in other cities, needed to travel to and from New York City, Boston, and Atlantic City. The first companies to offer Chinese intercity bus service had minimal features, including unmarked curbside bus stops and no advertising or customer service; this greatly reduced overhead costs. In 1998, two companies began operations: Fung Wah Bus Transportation, between New York and Boston, and Eastern Bus, between New York and Philadelphia. At first, very few non-Chinese made use of the services. As word spread, they became popular with non-Chinese travelers due to lower fares and the demographics of these bus lines became similar to those of other intercity bus lines.

Competition and price wars between newly successful companies, combined with online ticket sales, led to a reduction in fares. Service to smaller cities by Chinatown bus lines had less of a price advantage. The fierce competition led to gang violence in which rival bus operators killed or injured each other. Because of their low fares, Chinatown bus lines had very low profit margins; some went bankrupt and ceased operations. However, the services became more popular and the number of trips by Chinatown bus lines increased.

In 2004, a fully-booked bus net at least $340 profit per round trip after expenses. In 2004, Vamoose Bus was launched by Hasidic Jews to compete with Chinatown bus lines.

By 2005, Chinatown buses appropriated much of the market share of Greyhound Lines in the Northeastern United States.

By 2006, many Chinatown bus lines operated service to/from casinos popular with Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants. All riders receive free-play vouchers, and some low-income or homeless people sell them before returning to New York.

In 2008, BoltBus was established by Greyhound to compete with the less-expensive Chinatown bus lines, but ceased operations in July 2021.

By 2010, service expanded to many major cities across the U.S.

By 2012, riders of Chinatown buses made up over half the ridership of northeastern intercity buses, bringing annual intercity ridership to over 7 million passengers.

Shutdowns
Double Happyness Travel, Inc. was shut down in December 2011 after it was called "an imminent hazard" by transportation officials.

On May 31, 2012, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced the shutdown of Apex Bus, I-95 Coach, New Century Travel, and 23 related entities due to safety violations.

On March 2, 2013, the United States Department of Transportation shut down Fung Wah Bus Transportation because of its refusal to provide safety records. The company was later authorized to resume its bus operations but shut down anyways in 2015.

On May 25, 2013, a bus operated by Lucky Star was taken out of service when a manhole cover became lodged in its undercarriage. The company was shut down on June 5 due to "flagrant disregard for motor coach passenger safety". Lucky Star conducted an extensive bus upgrade and driver program, passed required inspections, and resumed operations in November 2013.

The shutdowns led to an increase in bus fares and some say the shutdowns were unnecessary. Jim Epstein, a writer for libertarian publication Reason, called the FMCSA practices overly harsh, writing that the agency targets Chinatown bus companies because owners are rarely fluent in English and alleging that inspectors were overly strict about defective components, confiscating several buses for minor issues.

Post-shutdowns
Despite these shutdowns, in 2015, Chinatown bus lines operated 5.3 million passenger trips and 48.5 million annual miles of service, up 14% from 2013 and up 26% since 2008.

In May 2019, Eastern Bus, a Chinatown bus line, reached a deal with Flixbus, in which Flixbus handles all marketing and sales for the company.

Organized crime related incidents
In 2003 and 2004, bus burnings, driver assaults, murders, and other gang violence in New York City were linked to the possible infiltration of Asian organized crime gangs in the industry.

Among the crimes associated with gang activity was a deadly shooting in May 2003 on a busy street, which may have been in retaliation for a driver backing his bus into a rival; in revenge, two buses were set on fire the following year. Fatal stabbings occurred in October 2003 and in 2004. The boyfriend of a bus-company employee was fatally shot in an apparent bus feud in January 2004, and a Chinatown bus operator was shot to death two months later. In a June 2004 incident tied to criminal gangs, two people—a Chinatown bus driver and a bystander—were murdered in a bar in Flushing, Queens; another was shot in the leg. The accused shooter was arrested in Toronto in 2011, and was extradited to the United States. After the 2004 shootings, the New York City Police Department increased its enforcement of Chinatown-bus laws. Bus-feud crime subsided by 2007.

In 2008, the Banya Organization, a Chinese gang, was accused of assaulting employees of Chinatown bus lines in an attempt to extort partial ownership and a share of the profits.

In 2013, police confiscated 254 guns and arrested 19 members of the largest gun-smuggling ring in New York City history; the suspects were accused of shipping guns via Chinatown bus lines. In 2020, Chinatown bus lines were again accused of being a conduit for gun trafficking.

Safety record
Chinatown buses have been involved in several incidents, and there were 34 intercity bus crashes across the United States from 2001 to 2011. On a 2006 safety scale of 0 to 100, where 0 was the safest and 100 the most dangerous, Chinatown bus lines were rated between 71 and 99; Greyhound was rated 0. "Calculations of safety and risk are inverted," according to a 2013 City University of New York study. A report in 2011 found that curbside Chinatown buses were often more dangerous than buses that stop in terminals. As of 2011, many travelers were not discouraged. Intercity bus crashes are rare.

In February 2004, after several murders connected with employees of rival Chinatown bus companies, officials conducted a surprise inspection and seized buses.

In 2012, General Bus, a Chinatown bus line, was noted to have a safety record worse than 99.5% of other intercity bus lines.

In 2017, federal data showed that three Chinatown bus lines were among the worst safety violators among U.S. intercity bus lines.

Crashes and incidents

 * February 8, 2003 – A bus operated by Dahlia transporting passengers to the Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey, spun off the Garden State Parkway and flipped on its side on a snowy embankment, killing two people and injuring 28 people.
 * March 18, 2005 – A Boston-bound Chinatown bus operated by Lucky Star/Travel Pack stopped and evacuated its passengers on the Massachusetts Turnpike shortly before it burst into flames. No one was injured.
 * August 16, 2005 – A New York-bound bus operated by Fung Wah Bus Transportation caught fire on Interstate 91 near Meriden, Connecticut. Although the passengers later criticized the driver for being unhelpful and untrained in evacuating the bus, no injuries were reported. After the August 2005 bus fire, the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy began conducting three surprise inspections per month on all bus companies leaving Boston's South Station terminal. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York proposed a four-point federal plan which would includes surprise inspections and a national safety standard for bus operators.
 * August 15, 2006 – A Shun Fa bus traveling from New York to Pittsburgh crashed. Ten passengers were injured, five of whom were hospitalized, one in critical condition.
 * September 6, 2006 – A bus operated by Fung Wah Bus Transportation rolled over in Auburn, Massachusetts, injuring 34 passengers. Excessive speed was cited as a factor and the bus company was fined.
 * January 3, 2007 – A bus operated by Fung Wah Bus Transportation lost its back two wheels in Framingham, Massachusetts, early in a trip to New York. No injuries were reported.
 * February 14, 2007 – A bus operated by Fung Wah Bus Transportation en route to New York went out of control and struck a traffic barrier on the Massachusetts Turnpike, I-90, in Allston. No injuries were reported. State officials had advised Fung Wah Bus Transportation to suspend operations because of a winter storm that day. Fung Wah reached an agreement with regulators in which its buses would be subject to inspections and driver checks for 30 days. The company agreed to improve safety, including removing unclean, unsafe buses from service.
 * February 18, 2007 – A bus owned by Tremblay Motorcoach and operated by Sunshine Travel caught fire on the Massachusetts Turnpike near interchange 10A in Millbury, Massachusetts. All 50 passengers were evacuated, and no injuries were reported. The cause of the fire was unknown. The bus was returning to Chinatown, Boston from the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.
 * March 23, 2007 – A New York-bound bus operated by Fung Wah Bus Transportation from Boston got stuck on a cement lane divider at a tollbooth on the Massachusetts Turnpike at Massachusetts Route 128 in Weston, Massachusetts, when the driver tried to change lanes. No one was injured, and passengers boarded a later bus.
 * May 20, 2007 – A New York-bound bus crashed in Pennsylvania, killing 2 riders and injuring 32 more. Fung Wah Bus crash.jpg bus crash]]
 * June 23, 2008 – A bus loading passengers was struck by an out-of-control dump truck at the intersection of Canal Street and the Bowery in New York's Chinatown. The impact pushed the bus onto the sidewalk and into a bank. A sign attached to a light pole fell, injuring a 57-year-old woman who later died. Several people, including two police officers, were treated for minor injuries. State Department of Transportation inspectors found that the dump truck, owned by CPQ Freight Systems, had eight mechanical issues including faulty brakes which led to the crash.
 * March 12, 2011 – World Wide Tours bus crash - A bus operated by World Wide Tours traveling to Chinatown from the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut crashed, killing 15 people.   The crash was a result of driver fatigue. The driver was charged with manslaughter but was acquitted.
 * March 14, 2011 – On the New Jersey Turnpike, a bus crash killed the driver and injured 40, two critically.  In March 2011, these two crashes led officials to confiscate six buses for inadequate brake air pressure, steering violations, and missing driver paperwork.
 * May 31, 2011 – A commercial tour bus operated by Sky Express crashed on Interstate 95, killing four people and injuring dozens.
 * September 21, 2014 – A Chinatown bus overturned and killed two people and injured 48 people in Delaware.
 * March 31, 2015 – A Chinatown bus hit and killed a pedestrian in Virginia.
 * September 23, 2017 – A bus operated by Dahlia Group slammed into a city bus in Flushing, killing Dahlia’s driver, a city bus passenger, and a pedestrian, and injuring 16 people.
 * January 5, 2020 – A Chinatown bus crash killed five people and injured over 60 people on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Other criticism
Buses often do not follow their scheduled timetables; many are unreliable, sometimes skipping scheduled stops.

Buses are also criticized for being uncomfortable. Buses are generally older and unmarked. The buses are also known to breakdown.

The curbside bus stops used by Chinatown bus lines led to many complaints from nearby residents and business owners due to noise, pollution, trash, blocked traffic, and sidewalk overcrowding. The complaints led to increased regulations in several cities, including permit requirements, bus stop requirements, fines and fees, as well as the construction of the Independence Transportation Center in Philadelphia. These regulations were also allegedly influenced by Peter Pan Bus Lines and Greyhound Lines, which face competition from Chinatown bus lines.

title: Chinatown bus lines