Companies offer to improve Leicestershire's flawed bus tracking system
Companies from Britain and overseas believe they can improve Leicestershire's flawed bus tracking system.
The 10-year-old Star Trak system, which tells passengers how long until the next bus is due to arrive, is due to be replaced next year.
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Companies offer to improve Leicestershire's flawed bus tracking system
The system cost £3.8m, but many passengers said the bus stop displays were unreliable.
Leicester City Council, which oversees the regional scheme, placed an advert into trade journals around the world in June encouraging companies to come forward with ideas for a replacement system.Now 18 companies have been in touch, including firms from France and Spain, three from Germany and one from Canada. The remaining companies are British.
Representatives from each of the companies will be invited to a seminar in Leicester later in the year to expand on their ideas for improving the system.
The city council's traffic operations team leader, Ed Kocik, said: "We're pleased with the level of interest from companies hoping to work with us on the new Star Trak system.We want an accurate and cost-effective system and we're looking forward to hearing what expertise these firms have.
"We're exploring the idea of offering more advance applications on mobile phones so bus passengers can see whether their bus is on time before they reach the bus stop."
The new system is set to cost less than a third of the original project at between £500,000 to £1m.
The current system has satellite devices fitted on to buses, which pinpoint each vehicle's location. Electronic notice boards at bus stops display how long it will be until the next bus arrives. But the current system racked up complaints from passengers, who said it was inaccurate.
A major review was carried out into its flaws two years ago which found some bus stops only displayed accurate bus information 15 per cent of the time.
The report found that problems arose because the kit on board buses did not work properly, or was not operated correctly.
But Mr Kocik said one solution to this could be incorporating the GPS location tracker inside the ticket machines on the buses, meaning it would be more likely to be maintained by the bus companies. The Star Trak system runs in Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and costs are shared between the bus companies and local authorities involved.
Andrew Thomas, the council's head of traffic management, called Star Trak pioneering but said the technology was now "obsolete" and needed replacing.
Leicester city and Leicestershire county councils pay 15 per cent and 16 per cent of the costs respectively. Nottingham City Council pays the most at 24 per cent.
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by Rick, Leics
Thursday, October 14 2010, 9:24AM
“What's wrong with a timetable, hey? A This will be a lot of wasted money on pointless technology that is unreliable and that few people will use - all so the council can boast about its modern bus system. Well here's an idea. Simply get regular buses that arrive on time in the first place.”
by Works in Leicester, Lives in Derby
Wednesday, October 13 2010, 9:02PM
“As a person that uses the system in Derby and also in leicester thinks that its great and the new signs starting to be used in Derby are fantastic as they show schedule time as well as real time.
Shame they're not used in leicester as far as I know. I thought they were the same system so the capability is there. Also all those comments, don't people realize that private companies run the buses and that if any money was saved by not puting a new system in place would go to another department and not used on the buses”
by Likes the Real Time, East Midlands
Wednesday, October 13 2010, 8:49PM
“Its funny how the system as it stands always gets slated and people moan about it "Not Working" or "original supplier provide a working system. Surely the system should have been working satisfactorily". The system seems to work fine whenever I use it, Yes there are problems with the way the signs show schedule data, but it can be a godsend when waiting for a bus, especially when you are less able and can't stand waiting ages for a bus. Maybe the bus companies need to look after the equipment as it has been reported that they don't repair them. Maybe if people complained to these private companies and threatened to remove custom then they may have buses that work on the system. I have seen problems but in general it works well. Its also testiment that it is used in the County, Nottingham and Derby so the system can't be that bad. I have to admit that the signs in Nottingham are nicer than in Leicester as they show timetable information as well as also showing other informatio, which would have been good at the weekend with the EDL thing as they would be able to give uses extra info. The system may be old but its better than not having it and remember Leicester started this and pioneered it in the UK, now most big cities and towns have a system. And those that say "well use a paper timetable" obviously don't use the buses, how many stops do you see in leicester with timetables and how many times are the buses on time.
I just hope that the council choose a trusted system that has a good track record and not some experimental cheap system that has even more issues than the one now.
I like the idea of the system and use it a lot and when it works it works very well”
by Paul Jones, Shrewsbury
Wednesday, October 13 2010, 5:27PM
“Why didn't the original supplier provide a working system. Surely the system should have been working satisfactorily or the City Council would be able to claim a full refund as "not fit for purpose".”
by Paul Jones, Shrewsbury
Wednesday, October 13 2010, 5:22PM
“Why didn't the original supplier provide a working system? Surely if it was not fit for purpose the City Council were entitled for a full refund.”
by Rob, Leicester
Wednesday, October 13 2010, 5:17PM
“john, Leicester
"Mobil" phone was given away free with petrol.”
by john, Leicester
Wednesday, October 13 2010, 4:18PM
“And not every one has got a Mobil phone”
by john, Leicester
Wednesday, October 13 2010, 4:17PM
“If there was not so Meany hazards on the road buses may run on time ie bollards humps in the road.silly roundabouts all slow traffic down. Leicester is one of the slowest moving traffic system in Britten”
by Graham, Whetstone
Wednesday, October 13 2010, 2:40PM
“Can't we forget the bus information aspect and expand the upgrade to get it to show when the next cyclist is due to charge along the pavement?”
by James, London
Wednesday, October 13 2010, 12:49PM
“How about improving the bus services rather than telling people how late their bus is going to be...? I've said it before and I'll day it again - public transport and transport in general are what are killing this city off. Buses that just dont show up, no inner city train links, a horrific one way system and ridiculously expensive buses! if the private companies are benefiting from this system they should pay for it!”