Norfolk County Council (NCC) claims to have simplified the laborious task of updating bus timetables and service information across 2,000 of its bus stops thanks to a new web-based system developed by ITO World automating the process.
The system, called ITO Go, has been developed to help ensure the council keeps its bus passengers moving without the luxury of a large team of people to create and manage stop information displays.
Jeremy Wiggin from NCC explained: “We found ourselves struggling to keep up when funding and personnel were reduced. We approached ITO World to help develop an automated system, which has made a dramatic difference to the way we create bus timetables.”
Using the previous system, creating a bus service timetable display would have taken about 20 minutes, with the end result viewed by some as being unattractive and hard to read. Using ITO Go uses a selection of bus stop templates and takes around a minute thanks to a clear and simple web-based interface.
The resulting posters are clear and attractive and can feature a map where no visual guide existed before. Extra details can also be easily added to the posters, including QR tags enabling passengers to download maps and real-time information to their smartphones.
Peter Miller, CEO of ITO World, said: “Our background in data visualisation helped us approach bus timetables in a different way. The resulting product marries our mapping technology with excellent CGI to produce clear timetables.”
