West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) is adding QR (Quick Response) codes and NFC (Near Field Communication) tags to over 13,000 bus stop timetable displays across West Yorkshire.
Passengers using their mobile phone or tablet to scan them will be connected directly with a web page showing real-time information for that stop.
Tags have already been installed at around 2,000 stops. A further 7,000 will be in place by the start of November and the remainder in December.
People with a smartphone camera can download a free app that will scan the stop’s code and take them directly to a web page showing live bus departures for that stop. If the phone has NFC technology, the customer simply needs to scan their phone over the NFC symbol to open the real-time web page.
Deputy Chairman of West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee, Cllr Eric Firth, said: “People have told us that having reliable, real-time information makes them more likely to use the bus and this work to install QR codes and NFC tags to over 13,000 bus stops is an important step in making that information available more simply.
“As was shown by last week’s Transport Committee approval for a programme of work to improve our real-time and online information provision, the Combined Authority is committed to using new and emerging technology to improve passengers’ journeys and experiences.”
West Yorkshire Combined Authority Chairman, Cllr Peter Box, said: “Innovative projects such as this and the programme of work announced last week will play an important role in helping the Combined Authority achieve its key objective of delivering economic growth through a good transport network for West Yorkshire and the Leeds City Region.”
