ELECTRONIC INFORMATION signs which tell the “real time” buses are due have started operating at selected bus stops in Dublin city, more than 10 years after their planned introduction.
The electronic display screens were yesterday switched on at 10 bus stops for live testing with 450 signs expected to be operational before the end of the year.
The signs will be available at about 10 per cent of Dublin Bus stops.
Real-time passenger information was due to be available at bus stops when quality bus corridors were introduced in the late 1990s.
However, the technology was never installed on buses to allow the system to be adopted.
The real-time system uses satellite technology to identify the position of approaching buses and update the arrival time shown on an electronic display unit.
To work, the system requires complementary technology to be installed on buses.
Dublin Bus was granted €10 million in 2006 under the Government’s Transport 21 investment programme for the roll-out of an automatic vehicle location system on its bus fleet, which was installed on all its vehicles last year.
The system also has a “journey detector” function which works by recording the time a bus takes to pass between different points on its route.
If the time exceeds a particular number of minutes, a decision can be made to give the bus priority at upcoming junctions.
The National Transport Authority will introduce a web- and text-based service to provide bus arrival information at all stops later this year, including at stops not covered by the new bus-arrival screens.
