East Yorkshire Motor Services (EYMS) has announced that free WiFi is now available on the majority of its buses running on services between Hull city centre, Hull University and Cottingham, and on the main X46 route between Hull and York, running via Beverley, Market Weighton and Pocklington
The nine buses allocated to the frequent 103 and 105 routes between Hull and Cottingham via the University, recently painted in a new route-branded livery, have been equipped with WiFi, as have the five buses which operate the X46 on an hourly frequency between Hull, Beverley, Market Weighton and York.
Trials took place on these routes to resolve hotspot problems, but even before the WiFi was announced some passengers had found the it was available on one or two of the buses and EYMS received some positive feedback.
EYMS Chairman, Peter Shipp, said: “Whilst the WiFi was not cheap to install, I hope it will be an added attraction for passengers on the longer journeys to York and on the 103 and 105 routes which between them cater for thousands of university students, as well as lots of other passengers in the Cottingham area.
“Currently there are no plans to roll out WiFi onto other East Yorkshire routes but we will monitor the situation very carefully and if it does help attract extra passengers, we will certainly consider it in other areas.
“Initial reaction has already been extremely positive.”
The company says that the majority of the trips on these routes – it aims for at least 90% – will be operated by the WiFi buses, but points out that other buses may have to be substituted on occasion to cover routine maintenance or repairs on the buses normally allocated to the routes
Asked why Icomera had been selected to supply the system, Peter replied: “We’ve done research and talked to other bus operators about their experiences, which led us to begin speaking to Icomera.
“We liked their product, not only for the WiFi product itself, but for the possibilities that the back office system gave us in terms of user information and system control.”
