Transport for London (TfL) has signed Trapeze Group to develop a new tool for managing the city’s bus network as part of the Future Bus System project.
The public transport software provider has won a contract valued at up to £7.25 million and set to run for seven years, with options to extend for a further three, to replace the existing systems that provide details of routes and service schedules.
The current arrangement involves a combination of systems providing a number of functions, including the definition of the structure and frequency of bus services – taking in route information and stop sequences – and interfaces with the bus operator companies to validate and manage schedules. They also generate timetables and route data for other systems and stakeholders.
These have been declared obsolete and are running under extended support contracts, prompting TfL to look for a system that will also be able to improve the accuracy of real time data and capture a range of service information, such as that around planned events in London.
It has been estimated that the implementation phase will cost £6.25 million, with an optional development of interfaces valued at another £1 million.
TfL has been making sustained efforts to increase and exploit the data it collects around the operation of the city’s bus services. In June it began a three-month trial to identify which technologies could be most effective in automatically counting passengers on buses, saying it would help to improve real time travel information and in prioritising investment.
Image by Dun.can, CC BY 2.0 through flickr
