Satellite technology for Christchurch buses

Christchurch is taking on satellite technology worth $2.8 million at its bus stops to lift public transport patronage and lower car pollution and congestion.

The city's bus system is being fitted with real-time passenger information to add credibility and reliability to bus arrival times.

The new bus exchange headquarters tells passengers exact arrival times and which platform the bus leaves from. This has been operating since April last year.

Now passengers at the Christchurch's busiest bus stops will access the same route information, beginning with 10 trial stops.

The first unit of the Christchurch-invented system was installed today at a bus stop on Riccarton Rd, one of the busiest inner city streets in the country.

Ten bus stops will have the system installed by the end of next month.

Commuters at 200 of the city's bus stops will eventually tap an interactive screen to find out how many minutes they will need to wait before their bus arrives.

The Bus Finder system was developed by fledgling Christchurch company Connexionz.

The company says Beijing and London have shown some interest in the ground-breaking system and it was tendering for several overseas public bus fleets wanting real time information for passengers.

"At this stage our software can handle transactions involving a bus fleet of up to 3000 and we can develop this even further," Connexionz managing director Robert Burke said.

In each of Christchurch city's 215 buses is a global positioning satellite unit made by NavMan New Zealand in Auckland.

The position locator is linked to an onboard Connexionz computer, which uses a Tait Electronics mobile radio to report the bus position.

At base, the Connexionz software finds every bus in the fleet every 30 seconds.

This enables the continuous update of the bus exchange's public display screens and the self-powered Bus Finder at the bus stops.

- NZPA