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Information PackCOUNTDOWN
In line with the Mayor of London’s aim toenhance the quality of life for allLondoners, Transport for London (TfL) iscommitted to providing personalised realtime information (RTI) for bus passengersacross all of London’s bus services.As a key manifesto pledge, thiscommitment is reflected in both theproposed Mayor’s Transport Strategy andTfL’s current Business Plan 2009/10 – 2017/18.
The Mayor through TfL, and working with the London boroughs and other stakeholders, including developers, will improve buspassengers’ journeys through... the implementation of a new Countdown system to deliver expanded access to real timeinformation for all Londoners via SMS and the web”
 Proposal 24,
Draft Mayor’s Transport Strategy 
, p 143
London has historically been served withreal time passenger information showingbus arrival predictions via 2000 bus sheltersigns: the system known as Countdown.While this has been extremely successful,its implementation is limited by both thetechnology and cost. Currently,Countdown only serves 10 per cent of thenetwork and travelling public.We recognise the value that passengers’place on good quality information andbelieve that we must expand the range ofways in which RTI is provided.Through the advances in informationtechnology, TfL is now able to provide amore complete information serviceshowing bus arrival predictions for everyone of London’s 19,000 bus stops througha number of different methods (orchannels), including mobile phone textmessages, fixed and mobile web, as wellas providing a new generation of busshelter mounted signs.This newCountdown service allows TfLthe opportunity to provide RTI across itsentire bus network for the first time. Newmedia channels and formats allow TfL toreach more passengers than ever before,in a cost effective way.The introduction of internet and textmessaging services will secure access tobus RTI for Londoners both at and awayfrom a bus stop. These services will becomplemented by a new generation ofCountdown signs which will provide RTI ataround 2,500 key bus stops in London.The Internet and text message services arescheduled to be available in 2011. Theroll out of 2500 new Countdown signs willcommence in spring 2011 and will becompleted by summer 2012.
 
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KEY FACTSLive SMS and Web
- arrival time predictions for every one of the 19,000 bus stops and all700 routes in London.Text Messaging - The mobile phone optionwill allow passengers to text their bus stopcode or bus stop name and/or bus route toa central telephone number to receive real-time bus arrival times for that stop and/orroute directly to their mobile phones.Web – With greater flexibility to provideRTI than text messaging, web users canbe helped in their selection of theappropriate bus stop or route, withpassengers enabled to search for theirbus stop by bus stop name, street name,area and post code. The fixed internetservice will also allow searches on a mapvia our website.
2500 new Countdown signs
The live text messaging and web serviceswill also be complemented by a newgeneration of Countdown signs which willprovide RTI at around 2,500 key bus stopsin London.The selection of stops within theCountdown roll-out programme will bebased upon a stop-selection strategyformulated to achieve widespreadpassenger benefit and secure a balancedand effective distribution of on-streetsigns across the network.New generation Countdown signs willdeliver audio RTI (via RNIB React – a keyfob trigger device) for visually impairedpassengers, therefore making bus RTImore inclusive and the displaysthemselves will be fully compliant with thelatest disability guidelines.The standard shelter mounted signs willcontain an illuminated element of LEDwith an amber colour on blackbackground. The casing of the new signsis currently being designed by oursuppliers.
 
 
The new Countdown signs will be able tooffer more information than thosecurrently in use. As well as predicting busarrival times, they will be able to displayother relevant travel information such asservice updates, disruption information ornetwork wide messages.The technology used by the newCountdown system will increase theflexibility to redeploy signs toaccommodate any changes in the use ofstops across the network due to, forexample, housing or retail developmentsor changes in demographics.TfL will periodically reassess the networkand deploy or move signs as the networkevolves using its stop selection strategy.
STOP SELECTION OVERVIEW
The new Countdown programme presentsTfL with a unique opportunity to rethinkthe sign allocation to stops, allowinggreater benefit to passengers whileachieving a more considered and informedallocation.There are currently around 19,000 busstops in London. While we appreciate howuseful Countdown would be at all busstops, we need to balance the cost ofproviding Countdown on-street signs withthe benefits to customers.As part of the roll out of the newCountdown system, the selection of stopsto receive on-street signs will be basedupon a stop-selection strategy in whichevery stop in London will be assessedagainst a range of criteria.
The stop selection strategy is nowfinalised and serves as the basis forthe allocation of signs to on-streetlocations.
The Stop Selection Strategy aims toprioritise bus stops for Countdown signsby targeting locations where the need foron-street RTI is thought to be greatest.New generation Countdown signs will beinstalled at strategic locations where theywill provide the most benefit to thegreatest number of passengers, whilstaddressing social needs where possible.To ensure these objectives are met, it willbe necessary to review the existinglocations of Countdown signs. Thoseexisting signs which do not satisfy therequirements set out in the stop selectionstrategy will be removed.The criteria used to assess stops are thefollowing:
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Number of passengers using stop
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Proximity to centres of population
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Proximity to transport interchanges
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Proximity to key local services
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Number of low frequency services
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24h routes serving stopEach stop has been scored against each ofthe above criteria.Bus stops scoring the highest are thenselected to receive a new generationCountdown sign.All stops across the London bus networkhave been considered as part of this “stopselection” process.It is expected that approximately 35 percent of the allocation of existing signs willbe removed and replaced at locationswhere they will provide the most benefitto passengers.
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