Minister Alan Kelly, Paddy Doherty, Chief Executive Officer, Dublin Bus and Gerry Murphy, Chief Executive Officer, National Transport Authority
Dublin Bus has become the first transport provider to offer a new service developed by the National Transport Authority that will give real-time arrival times via web, smartphone and text for all 5,000 Dublin Bus stops.
The system, an initiative of the National Transport Authority, was developed with the technical assistance of Dublin City Council and will be available as a new website, text service and iPhone app.
Under the new system, all stops in Dublin will have a unique identification number that passengers can use to check the arrival time of the next bus.
The bus arrival information service can be accessed at either TransportforIreland.ie or dublinbus.ie/rtpi. The Transport for Ireland website will also provide real-time passenger information for Bus Éireann, Luas and other transport operators in the months ahead.
National rollout of real-time bus arrival info
Bus Éireann will be included on an integrated service in the coming months. The system is a significant enhancement of the 500 real-time on-street electronic bus signs currently being installed at stops across the Greater Dublin Area (with more than 270 installed to date).
The electronic signs are also being tested in Cork for launch this year and will be rolled out to Galway, Limerick and Waterford next year.
“The real-time website and mobile app and text service offer bus passengers greater convenience, reliability and quality of service with up-to-the-minute information on how far away your bus is from any stop in Dublin,” the Minister for Public and Commuter Transport, Alan Kelly, TD, said in launching the new service.
Gerry Murphy, chief executive of the National Transport Authority, said the authority is working with Bus Éireann, Irish Rail, Luas and private bus operators to join the Transport for Ireland service, to offer a truly integrated information system for users.
Alongside today’s expansion of the real-time service, we’re also developing a national integrated journey planner. We will bring all strands of public transport information together into one readily accessible system whereby everyone nationwide will be able to access and plan their journeys, including real-time arrival information, through a single site: TransportforIreland.ie.”
