Hogia connects London buses for the future

How can IT systems make bus travel more efficient to use and more attractive to the passenger? The EU-project EBSF2 has been launched to answer this question.The project brings together companies and public sector organisations from all over Europe. It is now ready to leave the laboratory and embark on field trials.Transport for London's bus operators will be the first to take part in a field trial, and Hogia is supplying the platform that integrates the individual systems.

The EU European Bus System of the Future 2 (EBSF2) project is a part of Horizon 2020, the largest framework programme for research and innovation that has ever taken place within the EU. Theproject’s aim is to develop IT solutions that will in the future make bus travel more attractive to use and more efficient in its delivery. Among other things, the project has focused on establishing standards and identifying industry recommendations in order to simplify the cooperation between different suppliers involved in delivering a complete solution. The next stage is to test the concept during a field trial involving buses in operation in London. This is a real challenge as London's bus network transports 6 million passengers every day.

"We believe that passengers will find bus travel much more attractive if they can get up-to-date and consistent real time information about the current status of the bus network and any disruptions to its services. This was the starting point of the project from our perspective," says Ulf Bjersing, Chief Architect at Hogia Public Transport Systems.

A seamless exchange of information between all subsystems in an integrated public transport network is a necessity, and this includes the systems on board buses, as well as those systems used for operational and fleet management at the in-station.

"We are supplying a technical platform which does not restrict customers to a specific technical solution, but instead enables them to combine the benefits of a number of different systems and from different suppliers. This is particularly important for Transport for London, because they buy 800 new buses every year," says Gary Umpleby, General Manager, Hogia UK.

Notes to Editors:

The European Bus System of the Future 2 (EBSF2) project, led by UITP and co-funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, aims to develop a new generation of urban bus systems by building on the previous European Bus System of the Future (EBSF) project, which ran from 2008 – 2013.The EBSF2 project is utilising new vehicle technologies and infrastructures in combination with operational best practices, and testing them in the context of real-world operating scenarios in 12 European cities and regions, including London.

The primary ambition of the EBSF2 consortium, composed of 42 partners, is to improve is to improve the image of the bus through delivering solutions for increased efficiency, both in terms of energy consumption and operational costs, as well as better travel information for the passenger.

EBSF2 is being coordinated by the International Association of Public Transport (UITP). This is a worldwide organisation for public sector bodies, scientific institutions, politicians, public transport authorities and transport operators. The UITP covers all types of public transport. For more information visit: http://ebsf2.eu/ and http://www.uitp.org/

Hogia has over 25 years' experience of developing and supplying software and IT systems to the transport sector and is the only system supplier in Europe to offer integrated solutions for ferries, port terminals, road transport, as well as public transport. Hogia's customers currently include the six largest public transport authorities in the Nordic countries, including Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo and Helsinki. Hogia manages the information flows for 70 percent of the public transport systems in Scandinavia. In Great Britain, Hogia’s customers include Norfolk County Council, Serco-Northlink Ferries and Red Funnel.For more information visit: www.hogia.com/publictransport