MELBOURNE BUS DATA

Bus tracking system and real-time bus data

Public transport is the lifeblood of a city

Every day millions trips are taken on trains, trams and buses - helping people get to work and school, access critical services, as well as socialise, shop and participate in cultural, artistic and sporting events.

Public transport plays a crucial role in making these journeys a reality - championing and delivering improvements to keep people moving on a reliable, safe and inclusive public transport network..

A bus tracking system is the means of locating the position of a bus on its route in ‘real-time’. Data collected by the system is fed into a number of devices to provide information to customers and public transport operators about the location of the bus.

Benefits
  • Real-time bus data, which comes from the bus tracking system, shows the expected time in minutes from the point of display until the arrival of the relevant bus.
  • Customers can view this anticipated arrival time at a location via the App, website or, where available on the Passenger Information Display System (PIDS) at the bus stop.
  • Given the size of the bus network in a large city, the roll-out of real time information is being phased. Routes that carry the highest volume of customers, such as the SmartBus routes, are being rolled out first.
  • Millions of passengers a year are transported and the roll-out of the bus tracking system to the rest of the bus fleet will give customers greater confidence to use the bus network,”
  • Real-time information is providing huge benefits to customers using bus services, enabling them to better plan their journey on the network. It is also enhancing operational management capabilities for the bus operators.
  • “With accurate, detailed and timely service information available shortly, this will lead to improved coordination at transport interchanges helping customers to interchange between trains, trams and buses, enhanced operational management capabilities for the bus operators, as well as helping to support decision making for bus service improvements, such as where bus lanes or priority traffic light signals could improve services