WELLINGTON busses might finally start arriving on time. Go Wellington services are now using ‘Real Time Information’, run through GPS vehicle tracking, to inform passengers about when buses will actually arrive, as opposed to when they’re scheduled to.
Major projects team leader at Greater Wellington Regional Council David Lewry agrees that regularity of bus services has been an issue.
“Some buses run so late it seems like the next bus is running early,” he says.
Lewry expects the availability of real time information to put pressure on services to run on time.
“We expect to see results quickly. We ran a pilot last year, and the results were quite immediately noticeable,” says Lewry.
The public can currently access real time information online at metlink.org.nz.
Display signs are up and running at the Wellington Station interchange, and about 200 more will be installed at key bus stops in the CBD and suburbs over the next nine months.
The $9.7 million project, will eventually provide information to Valley Flyer, Mana and Newlands buses, and for train services too. Lewry says this will help to coordinate bus and train connections.
“The schedules are designed to make sure those connections can be made, but due to the late running of a bus or a train which is meant to meet the other, it doesn’t happen in practice. We’re now providing information that will assist a bus service trying to meet a train, so if a train’s late by a little bit, the driver can assess whether it’s worth waiting a couple of minutes. At the moment [the drivers] are completely in the dark,” he says.
The new system will allow for greater flexibility, Lewry says.
“[Under the old system] information that was current at a point in time became dated if there was a change in the line. The real time system constantly gathers new information to reeducate itself – so on a given time of day, on a given day of week it knows roughly how much time a particular journey segment will take. If that changes, it refines itself, so it’s always providing the most up to date information available,” he says.
Information gathered will be analysed to see if current schedules are realistic, or if drivers are up against a “no hope situation”.
Irrespective of an improvement in running times, Lewry believes having better information at hand will make waits more tolerable.
“If you are aware of exactly when a bus is coming, that can overcome exasperation over time waiting if it happens to be running late.”
Becca McClellan and James Jasper, students waiting at the Wellington station interchange on Tuesday morning, say they like the changes for saving, “time, effort and coldness.”
“We don’t have to go out in the rain to look at a timetable or the front of a bus. The system is much more reliable. The only problem is that sometimes buses come earlier than it says on the sign.”
Rod Prosser, also waiting for a bus, says, “It’s the first time I’ve seen [the display signs]. This is good, I’ve been waiting for it for a long time, but the real problem is the bus shelters where you stand in the cold, with not enough shelter, surrounded by advertising. I’d rather see that fixed first.”