In the message ...
"Mrs Redboots" wrote:

Marc Brett wrote to uk.transport.london on Wed, 10 Nov 2004:

As for inside displays, since GPS/AVL is to be fitted to buses, it'd be
relatively easy to add a bunch of features inside:

For passengers, a display with:
- Bus number & destination.
- Clock with exact time
- Next stop display/voice announcement.
- Messages from TfL / bus company
- Messages from advertisers, or other entertainment

I have seen buses with accurate clocks in them, and ones with
advertising screens on the upper deck (usually used to show what the
CCTV is seeing, but occasionally used for advertisers). As for
messages, the only ones the buses seem capable of saying is "Bus
stopping at next bus stop; please stand well clear of doors", as though
we were all pillocks!

Indeed, I recently travelled on (London) route 390 in a bus with such a
screen in the centre of the upper-deck windscreen, and was similarly
disappointed to see that none of the above-mentioned information (apart from
generic TfL messages and advertising) was displayed. But AFAIK this is par
for the course in today's narrowly commercially-oriented world; even the
idea that the advertising would be more effective if it alternated with
information of real value to passengers (the more specific the better, eg
real-time details of alterations to the services...) has obviously not
crossed the minds of those concerned.

BTW here in Brussels, buses with electronic destination blinds automatically
display the number of minutes before the scheduled departure (bilingually,
of course) while waiting at termini.

Regards,

- Alan (in Brussels)