[Gllug] [OT] Times Article on ABD was Fighting a virus

[Christopher Hunter]

On Tue, 2007-02-20 at 17:31 +0000, Pete Ryland wrote:

> There have also been changes to lights and new roads and a lot of
> money put in to increase the efficiency of buses, especially in the
> south east.

TfL ("Traffic for Losers") spent inordinate amounts of money on Siemens
microwave bus beacons and transponders.  All the infrastructure was
installed and commissioned over three years (up to two years ago), and
worked really well.  Not only did buses get automatic right of way
through junctions, but their location was known at all times, and the
"Countdown" displays at bus stops could work accurately.  I was briefly
involved with the project (I did some of the commissioning), and it was
a good, solid, reliable system.

Unfortunately, TfL have decided that this is yesterday's technology, so
it is now being stripped out and replaced with GPS and a trunked Band
III radio repeater system.  They seem to have overlooked that GPS
doesn't work in tunnels or underpasses, and is notoriously flaky amongst
high buildings.  Also, Band III coverage can be very sporadic in
built-up areas (as the Police are finding out to their cost with their
Tetra system), and in combination with loss of GPS lock makes the buses
very hard to locate!

The improvements to bus reliability achieved with the old Siemens system
were remarkable.  The current system is failing badly, and we're back to
the gregarious bus syndrome!

Chris


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