Thursday, October 29, 2009

Unreliable display of bus arrival times

There is a letter in the newspaper about the unreliable display of bus arrival times. This is another example of expensive technology that does not serve its purpose. This electronic display uses GPS and broadcast technology to display the projected arrival times in the display boards, but is subject to traffic conditions, weather (blocking GPS) and system constraints.

I hope that the Land Transport Authority will implement my suggestion of local bus services that run at frequency of less than 5 minutes. There is no need to have a display of bus arrival times.

4 comments:

  1. This electronic display board is so unreliable that it just proved one thing: wastage.

    Do away with it if the imformation of the arrival of the buses are always incorrect. It just make you wonder why it was put there at the first place if no checks and corrections are done periodically.

    ReplyDelete
  2. In Ohio, USA, the arrival times of the buses at all the stops are printed on leaflets. Customers know that they should be at a certain bus stop at a specific time to catch a specific bus.

    Customers know when a bus will arrive and can go to the bus stop before the bus comes so they do not have to hang around the bus stop wasting time, the customers can hold the bus drivers accountable to keeping to the stated times, and leaflets are a cheap way to inform users of the arrival times.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Customers know when a bus will arrive and can go to the bus stop before the bus comes so they do not have to hang around the bus stop wasting time, the customers can hold the bus drivers accountable to keeping to the stated times, and leaflets are a cheap way to inform users of the arrival times."

    - that sounds good. anyone any ideas to make the buses hang around certain bus stops if they arrive early or leave later when they are earlier? perhaps in our crowded city, we can try to predict when accidents might happen and divert the buses from their predestined routes to speed them along?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Waiting for a bus is waiting for a bus, with or without electronic arrival time display. So what if it flashes 5mins or more? Oh, plenty of time to light up and smoke a cigarette? Besides that, I can't imagine anything useful? Go get a snack first? You'd miss your bus if your snack timing is less than militarily precise. Go toilet first? If you've go to go, you've got to go, regardless of next bus arrival time. In short, electronic white elephant, waste space and waste money. Use the space to put up more useful notices instead.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.