REAL-TIME PASSENGER INFORMATIONSUPPLEMENT 11 Pete Bond


Transport Partnerships Manager Bus, Centro


Enhancing RTPI systems to benefit passengers


It’s no exaggeration to say that real-time information systems have revolutionised passenger travel in the West Midlands. Most of us of a certain age, and I include myself in this, no doubt remember the days of the seemingly endless wait for a bus or train to turn up whilst looking at our watches. That is no longer the case. Passengers in the West Midlands can now get up-to-the minute information from display screens telling them when their bus/train/tram is due to arrive, or even get the information sent to their mobile phone.


It has been a massive scheme, one that has


cost over £15 million, but the benefits are massive, and feedback from passengers has reflected that in the market research that bus operators and Centro have carried out. What was fascinating is that during the early


phase of implementation when problems occasionally occurred, when it did work 88% of passengers gave it the thumbs up, saying that it added real value to their journey experience. Centro is the integrated passenger


transport authority covering the cities of Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry, and the metropolitan boroughs of Sandwell, Dudley, Walsall and Solihull which covers a population of over 2.5 million people and is served by over 600 bus services. Buses alone in the Centro area carry nearly a


million people every day and account for 90% of all public transport journeys in the West Midlands, with more people turning to it thanks to the price of petrol in a time of great economic uncertainty.


Implementation Centro and its partners, bus operator National


www.eurotransportmagazine.com


Centro has approximately 800 real- time information displays installed at major stops and interchanges.


Eurotransport Volume 9, Issue 3, 2011


Express West Midlands, and real-time supplier ACIS, began implementing its RTI programme in 2003 on the bus network, with the rail network programme following in 2008. Midland Metro tram network also has a real-time system.


We weren’t the first PTA to introduce such a


programme but we were the first to get a major system implemented where the private bus operator financed all of the on-bus equipment themselves and maintained it. In fact, when it was launched on the first 330 buses back in 2005, it was the largest GPRS operational system in the world, and it continued to grow from there. The biggest operator is National Express


West Midlands (NXWM) who now have 800 of their 1,600 strong fleet fitted with RTI tracking equipment, and over the next two to three years


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