As part of the annual celebrations of the creation of Routemaster, Transport for London (TfL) is testing Wi-Fi on 2 London buses beginning today.
A bus on route 12 running between Bulwich and Oxford Circus and another bus on the RV1 route running between Covent Garden and Tower Hill are installed with Wi-Fi facility.
TfL has partnered with Bluepod Media to install Wi-Fi equipment on buses and if the trial is found to be useful for passengers, more buses is expected to soon get the Wi-Fi facility.
Simon Reed, head of technical services group of TfL said that London buses have always been a step ahead when it comes to technology from which millions of passengers have benefitted.
TfL has named 2014 as the Year of the Bus and has announced several enhancements and measures to make travelling on buses easy and comfortable for passengers.
The network is also conducting other trials such as the installation of digital screens near the stairs to show the seat availability information on the upper deck to save the hassle of having to check it themselves. The seat sensor is said to detect the availability of seats through the images from the CCTV camera installed onboard.
Also, the bus stations in Vauxhall, Hammersmith and Harrow announce real-time information about the buses arriving. TfL is also planning to install screens in buses to inform passengers about the progress of their journey and a map showing their route with details about the time of arrival at their stops and the interchanges nearby.
The network has also announced the installation of safety sensors in buses aimed at reducing deaths and injuries of pedestrians. It is further prepping other improvements for trial and instalment eventually for passengers using the network to navigate the city.
