Neil Williams wrote:
On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 19:49:56 +0100, Paul Terry
wrote:

But in London, I suspect that strangers are reluctant to use buses
because, even when given the route number, they worry about where to get
off because they don't know the visual clues and can't (in these days of
one-man driver and articulated buses) rely on someone to tell them.

I agree. There's nothing worse than being on a bus going to somewhere
you're not familiar with. You have to hope there is a shop sign or road
name that will give a clue to the location.

Indeed.

However, the technology exists, and has existed for ages, to name
stops and provide a display inside the bus showing the next stop and
other relevant information, either operated by the driver or
(preferably) by GPS. Hamburg has had this on its buses for years,
London has (or had) on the RV1, and Manchester does on at least some
of the Metroshuttle free buses. Yet it is pretty much 100% absent on
other buses in the UK, even those with electronic outside displays.

Why, I wonder? It is such an obvious (and relatively inexpensive,
certainly in comparison with the price of a brand new bendy) solution
to this fairly big problem. It amazes me that London in particular
has not implemented it. If Mr. Peddle of MK Metro is reading, it'd be
especially suitable for Milton Keynes, where most of the main road
stops look the same!

Makes perfect sense to me! Surely with the bus tracking systems we
already have it wouldn't be hard for the bus to 'know' where it
currently is?

--
Paul