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18/01/06 - 'Talking Bus Stops' go live in Scotland
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The three-month pilot will allow vision-impaired bus passengers to use Brailled buttons to listen to information from the Intelligent Bus Information System (IBIS). The units have been installed at 12 bus stops across the Strathclyde region, having received funding from the Scottish Executive.
Bus times are updated from the headquarters of Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT), the organisation behind the scheme, and sent to units using wireless technology - General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) - and mobile phone technology from UK transport information provider Tandata. It is thought to be the first time that GPRS technology has been used in this way. However, although audio information can be accessed on the next five buses due at each stop, complete bus timetables are only available on-screen for sighted passengers.
STP information and support officer Lindsay Mathie told E-Access Bulletin there was plenty of scope to develop the new system. "This is a base system and lots can be added. It's not the end product, we want people's feedback. We see the costs and the units getting smaller," she said.
In future, Mathie said STP may install hardware in the units that would allow passengers carrying a receptive fob that, on connection with a unit, would provide audible directions to IBIS bus stops.
In tandem with the project, directions to each of the bus stops from key locations have been published on the location description service Describe Online ( http://www.describe-online.com/glasgow/ibis/index.html ).
A similar
scheme is already underway in Bristol.
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