500 buses to get free Wi-Fi in £7.4m revamp (From Romsey Advertiser)
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500 buses to get free Wi-Fi in £7.4m revamp
11:30am Saturday 7th April 2012 in Hampshire Business
By Matt Smith, Politics and business reporter
500 buses to get free Wi-Fi in £7.4m revamp scheme
FIVE hundred buses in south Hampshire will be fitted with free Wi-Fi internet under a £7.4m improvement scheme.
The Department of Transport has awarded £4.5m towards the scheme after a joint bid by Southampton, Portsmouth and Hampshire councils.
The council partnership, called Transport for South Hampshire, aims to improve the quality of bus travel in county, increase bus usage by 8 per cent to cut congestion, and reduce carbon emissions by 4,205 tonnes.
At least 141 buses will be refurbished under the scheme, 500 will get display screens showing the next stops and new LED lighting, and a Smartphone apps giving bus timetable information will be launched later this year.
The Wi-Fi terminals, costing £1.2m, will be installed over the next two years.
Bus companies, who are putting £2.1m into the scheme, will also create 16 new apprenticeships.
Comments(26)
solomum
says...
11:55am Sat 7 Apr 12
bazzeroz
says...
12:09pm Sat 7 Apr 12
Little Tink
says...
12:15pm Sat 7 Apr 12
I don't use the bus as it costs me nearly £5 to travel from north baddesley to Romsey.......
Hughberry
says...
12:15pm Sat 7 Apr 12
Huffter
says...
12:18pm Sat 7 Apr 12
Paramjit Bahia
says...
12:24pm Sat 7 Apr 12
Goldenwight wrote:Obviously some geek whose dad or mum may have right connections or may have donated to some party has got to be compensated...
£7.5 million for 500 buses is £15000 each. Is wifi really that expensive, or necessary?
I'm being fatuous, of course, but does anyone really need or want wifi on the bus?
And what does 'at least 141 buses will be refurbished' mean? It is either 141 or 500, can't be both!
.
While I am neutral on the issue of providing this service, I rather they operated decent affordable and reliable bus services
.
But why don't they? Doesn't something called subsidies for loss making services come to mind? Bus operators and farmers have some common denominators.
bobbyboy
says...
12:39pm Sat 7 Apr 12
acid drop
says...
1:23pm Sat 7 Apr 12
Solomon's Boot
says...
1:56pm Sat 7 Apr 12
The poor bloody bus users! They're driven by idiots who make the buses bounce around so much, no one will be able to use a laptop anyway.
Pointless waste of bus traveller's money!!
Solomon's Boot
says...
1:56pm Sat 7 Apr 12
The poor bloody bus users! They're driven by idiots who make the buses bounce around so much, no one will be able to use a laptop anyway.
Pointless waste of bus traveller's money!!
vpharm
says...
3:41pm Sat 7 Apr 12
Personally I would like to see the millions spent of having more buses & to see them more frequently! WIFI will NOT help make the buses cheaper or even a better service. What a waste!
Markmag
says...
5:59pm Sat 7 Apr 12
They force local councils to make huge cuts, resulting in a huge drop in subsidy for buses (such as Lymington - Southampton service).
Then to make extra-sure bus companies can't run these services commercially, they make massive cuts to the fuel subsidy bus companies get, which they then make even worse by increasing fuel tax.
Meanwhile at the same time central government departments like Transport still have enough money to fund schemes like this which while admirable, is rather like putting icing on an empty space where a cake used to be.
They really couldn't organise a...
Rob444
says...
8:31pm Sat 7 Apr 12
Ideally, we need a bus service along St. Mary street but reinstatement of the 21 and 18 past Kingsland would do.
tobybruce
says...
9:04pm Sat 7 Apr 12
bazzeroz
says...
9:50pm Sat 7 Apr 12
Poppy22
says...
10:44pm Sat 7 Apr 12
Total waste of money. If we're to be attracted (back) onto buses, we want more buses on the roads and more available seats, not gimmicky Wi-Fi.
There's not enough room on the seats to use even a smartphone with Wi-fi (and, of course, a laptop would be totally out of the question!). If you're on the aisle seat, you need both hands to hang on to stop yourself falling off the seat when it goes round a bend or over a bump! If you're on the window seat, you're so squashed in you can't use your arms anyway.
Only schoolkids and youngsters will benefit from this; and they'll then miss their stops by being so engrossed on their smartphones!
Hope some of our councillors/MPs are reading all these comments and stop this stupid move and get the money spent elsewhere.
The people coming up with and applauding this stupid idea obviously have too much money (public sector senior managerial earnings and pensions ....) and don't live in the real world! Unbelievable!
S023
says...
7:40am Sun 8 Apr 12
solomum wrote:The money comes from central government, not the local councils, but I do agree that the money would be best spent on keeping bus services on the road.
With the amount of services being cut or totally withdrawn surely this money could be better spent on keeping buses running. It is totally ridiculous that vital services are lost, ie: the Lymington service has been cut from a bus every 30 mins to a bus every 90 mins. If the bus companies carry on the way they are, there will be no passengers to use the wifi.
Last time I looked the Bluestar 6 Lymington service was hourly.
PrincessPea
says...
10:05am Sun 8 Apr 12
How about using the money to reduce you extortionate prices!!
countrywench
says...
10:45am Sun 8 Apr 12
Sounds like a ' geek ' type is in charge of ideas ?
freefinker
says...
11:20am Sun 8 Apr 12
Rob444 wrote:You can forget all those bus numbers and routes - from 29 April the First network will utterly change.
No mention about service improvements. The bus services past Kingsland were stopped a few months ago, with no word about replacements.
Ideally, we need a bus service along St. Mary street but reinstatement of the 21 and 18 past Kingsland would do.
Here's the new route map: -
http://www.firstgrou
p.com/ukbus/new_serv
ice_updates/attach_1
333103763_8981_South
ampton_Network_Map%2
0Web%20Version.pdf
AndyVD
says...
1:18pm Sun 8 Apr 12
1. The wifi will rely on a mobile phone signal being present while the bus is being transported. So if which ever company they use for data (probably Vodafone) has no 3G/HSPA signal in that area, the connection will either drop to 2G/GPRS/EDGE (slower than dial up!), or the chances are there will be none at all.
2. Most people with smart phones have a data package on their device already, and will use that while on the bus. Some could say, that will the tiny allowances that these companies think are suitable wifi on the bus will enable them to save on that.
But most of all, NO ONE is going to be silly enough to get their £300+ laptop out on a bus , you'd be crazy. The number of times I've felt intimidated by people on the bus by just using my smart phone is enough to put me off using that there. Certainly on the top deck of a bus.
Overall, this money like everyone has said should be put towards improving the services, and the buses they use them.
Is it right that First Bus buy their replacement buses from Bluestar because they refuse to buy new ones to replace the ageing fleet? (Spotted an ex-bluestar bus the other day with First colours on it. Clearly could see the outline where they had stuck the stars across the window)
solomum
says...
3:42pm Sun 8 Apr 12
S023 wrote:Its only hourly after 9:45. The bus prior to that leaves West Quay at 8:15. Very poor service from the bus operators.
solomum wrote:The money comes from central government, not the local councils, but I do agree that the money would be best spent on keeping bus services on the road.
With the amount of services being cut or totally withdrawn surely this money could be better spent on keeping buses running. It is totally ridiculous that vital services are lost, ie: the Lymington service has been cut from a bus every 30 mins to a bus every 90 mins. If the bus companies carry on the way they are, there will be no passengers to use the wifi.
Last time I looked the Bluestar 6 Lymington service was hourly.
georgemiller89
says...
7:50pm Sun 8 Apr 12
Goldenwight wrote:Did you actually read the article?
£7.5 million for 500 buses is £15000 each. Is wifi really that expensive, or necessary?
I'm being fatuous, of course, but does anyone really need or want wifi on the bus?
And what does 'at least 141 buses will be refurbished' mean? It is either 141 or 500, can't be both!
It says at least 141 buses will be refurbished - That is: new seats, new flooring, new windows, paint job etc, but 500 buses will get new display screens with bus stop information and wifi installed.
dolomiteman
says...
3:57am Mon 9 Apr 12
X Old Bill
says...
3:02pm Mon 9 Apr 12
Great! I thought - 3G from US to UK is really expensive.
The problem is that it was really, really slow, slower than the old dial-up, I think.
By the time I loaded a page it was time to get off again.
As AndyVD says above - It is subject to more than one bottle neck.
Goldenwight says...
11:45am Sat 7 Apr 12
I'm being fatuous, of course, but does anyone really need or want wifi on the bus?
And what does 'at least 141 buses will be refurbished' mean? It is either 141 or 500, can't be both!