17.06.2007

Unique notice boards in buses developed in Turku
Passengers pleased with local news and information on traffic and weather

Under ICT Turku Oy a notice board for use inside buses has been developed to provide passengers with up-to-the-minute information. These notice boards were tested on two different city bus routes, and the passengers were most pleased with the local news and the information on traffic and weather. According to a survey by questionnaire the passengers also accepted the idea of 30 per cent advertising time.

The new bus notice board offers passengers local news and traffic information and also weather forecasts. The option exists for adverts about shops, restaurants and entertainment services. High resolution image (446 Kb) Photo: ICT Turku Oy

The internationally unique notice board system was developed by Axel Technologies, Mitron Oy, the City of Turku, the Turku city bus drivers’ organisation (TLO), the newspaper Turun Sanomat and the University of Turku, all under the leadership of ICT Turku Oy. Coloured electronic notice-boards were installed in a total of 12 city buses serving two routes with text and pictorial information updated several times a day. The questionnaire survey on the information service to passengers was carried out by Turku University of Applied Sciences.

Passengers welcomed the innovation as a new service. They were particularly interested in the local news, traffic information and weather forecasts. In addition they liked reading the national news and seeing entertainment information bulletins. They considered 30 per cent an appropriate amount of the time devoted to advertising.

The bus notice board system can be used for the dissemination of municipal information and for commercial purposes. The largest target groups are schoolchildren, young people, middle-aged people and senior citizens. It is for them that it is worthwhile to plan and implement the news, services and advertising material on the notice boards.

What has made it technically possible to receive new information for the bus notice boards is the digital TV signal. This enables text and pictures to be sent individually to each notice board. The GPS technology in the bus locates the bus according to addresses so that precise information on the buses’ progress and advertising to passengers are possible. Moreover the system information transfer can be relatively easily expanded to be bidirectional, so that while travelling a passenger could make reservations, place orders or make purchases.

More information: