Transport for London has come up with a new passenger bus concept that is all about buses that will not let the passengers wait for them. The new concept of the TfL refers to a transport system called iBus, which provides next stop announcements on board. This has been made possible with all of the eight thousand buses belonging to the capital being fitted with route information providing on board sat nav systems and electronic tour guides.
The combination that makes iBuses unique is the location finding GPS satellite data with GPRS data transfer technology for information transmission to a control point. The data trnsmitted thus would then appear on the the bus stops’ count down boards. The data also gets frequently updated. The GPRS technology is at present widely used in the mobile phones.
The most important aspect of the activation of this new system is that it can pave way for more significant mobile applications in the future. The concept of an advanced system was recently put forth by Boris Johnson, the London Mayor that referred to the introduction of a mobile phone version of the iBus service that would let the passengers access the arrival and departure times of the buses over their mobile phones at their houses or amidst their walk to the bus stop.
He had said in one of his briefings that the iBus system is expected to lay the foundation for the delivery of information regarding bus times downright to the internet or mobile phones. However, an impediment found here is the apathetic attitude of the TfL. As a matter of fact there was no much interest apparent on the part of TfL either towards web or mobile applications.
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