"Richard" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 23:16:04 +0100, "John Rowland"
wrote:
I hope it will be specified better than the current system, which uses a
relatively expensive display but doesn't tell people what they really
want
to know. A much more useful system could be produced a lot more cheaply.
Who
can I write to about this?

Interesting... how you think the displays could be better?

Firstly, nearly all buses go to the end of the line, so the destination info
is a waste of a huge number of pixels.

Secondly, as usual, nobody in the transport industry thinks about what info
passengers actually want. When I get to a bus stop, I am not interested in
the number and time of the next three or four buses - I'm interested in the
first and possibly second arrival of the route I want. Even with only one
frequent route and one infrequent route, the current system gives you a
screen full of multiple occurences of the frequent route and zilch info on
the infrequent one.

So, what I want is a small pod for each route, with the number of the route
painted on the top third of the pod, the number of minutes to the first
arrival of that route as LEDs in the middle third, and the number of minutes
to the second arrival of that route as LEDs in the bottom third. If the bus
isn't going to the normal terminus for that route, the time should flash.
The same info would be on the back of the pod. Stack a load of them next to
each other for multiple routes. This would be cheaper and more informative
than the current system.

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes