Date: 11 Nov 2011
Wilts & Dorset has expanded the technology for Smart phone users to provide customers using the more bus m1 and m2 routes real time information on buses between Poole, Bournemouth, Castlepoint and Southbourne using NFC (Near Field Communications) installed at every bus stop.
Passengers with 
NFC enabled smart phones can scan the tabs located on bus stops and then get up to the second information on how soon the next bus will arrive. The tabs on posters will also be distributed within locations including shops, cafés and pubs along the routes. In addition QR codes are also printed on the tags for those with smart phones not enabled with NFC technology.
Ed Wills (pictured above right with Derek Greene), Divisional Director at Wilts & Dorset, said that the system provided by London based Track4Services Ltd will be offered on other routes on the company’s extensive network should the trial prove popular.
“These routes are ideal for the trial as we know many passengers already have smart phones and will be able to access the information. There is also a large volume of passengers from which we can gain substantial feedback from a customer’s perspective on the project,” said Ed Wills. “Rollout onto other routes could follow within six months.”
Derek Greene, Director from the system developers Track4Services Ltd, said that Wilts & Dorset are the first operator to adopt the innovative technology following a small scale trial in Poole that can also automatically provide the information in different languages, ideal for the area’s high volume of tourists, and offer the visually impaired an automatic audio message.
So, are the days of the printed timetable numbered? Ed Wills believes that whilst there are still many bus passengers who do not own a smart phone, the need to provide route and timetable information on bus stops will remain essential, alongside the NFC technology simply providing better access to real time information.
“We expect that many of our over sixty concessionary pass holders do not own a smart phone and although they would benefit greatly by having all the information held in their hand, it may take a generation before everyone will fully embrace this innovative technology.”