Objective
In the competitive world of public transportation, operators are continually looking for ways to distinguish themselves from others. In 2005, the entire Oxford Tube fleet of twenty five vehicles was replaced at a cost of £8 million - the UK’s biggest investment in new vehicles on a single route - allowing more than 6,000 passengers a day to travel on the service to London. The 81-seat double-decker coaches are fully wheelchair- accessible with low-floors and air-conditioning. Featuring reclining seats, generous legroom, seatbelts, toilets and power points for laptops and mobile phones, they are also equipped with CCTV technology for additional passenger security.
Despite these significant introductions, Stagecoach management felt there was more they could do to improve the passenger experience. “The journey takes about an hour and a half in each direction,” explains Gautam Bhasin, General Manager of Oxford Tube. “With a high proportion of our travellers being commuters and students, we knew we had to find a way they could make more productive use of their time while on our coaches between London and Oxford. Offering Wi-Fi Internet connectivity would enable passengers to check their email and surf the web, and seemed like a natural addition to our newly-modernised fleet. We also wanted to increase passenger footfall by attracting customers away from competing coach and train services. To help achieve this we made the decision early on that the Wi-Fi service should be free of charge to passengers”.
With an always-on broadband connection to each vehicle it was clear that not only could Stagecoach deliver a competitive edge with on-board Wi-Fi hotspots, but that the two-way high speed link could be used for operational improvements such as vehicle tracking, schedule adherence, and remote viewing and control of CCTV equipment.
Challenges
The primary challenge facing a vehicular broadband service is provisioning a mobile data connection that will work at high speed along the 62 mile length of the route. Secondly, on the bus that connection needs to be converted to Wi-Fi for passengers’ use, and to Ethernet for telematics and other applications. Lastly the greater the number of vehicles in the fleet, the more sensitive the cost of deploying and maintaining broadband services becomes. A successful Wi-Fi solution must be able to show the transport operator that their investment is justified based on the rate of customer adoption, and continued use over time.
“Ultimately the reliability of the Internet connection would be the key to success”, continues Bhasin. “That was going to be the biggest challenge – we needed dependable equipment on board and a reliable connection to each bus. Our customers are not concerned about how the service is provided, they just want it to work so they can use it with confidence. And if we were planning to use it for more mission-critical applications such as pinpointing where our coaches are at any given moment, or accessing CCTV in an emergency situation, we must be able to trust the system to do what it’s meant to.”
Solution Description
After some research Bhasin approached Icomera and initiated a three month trial of the Moovbox M200 mobile broadband gateway across the whole fleet of twenty five coaches, with the mobile data service provided by Vodafone. “Along the route between Central London and Oxford, Icomera demonstrated that with Vodafone’s new HSDPA network we could deliver a broadband service with speeds in excess of 1Mbps,” explains Bhasin. “Outside HSDPA coverage area, the Moovbox would seamlessly fall back to 3G speeds around 300Kbps, although this is only necessary on a relatively short part of the journey.” Passengers connect to the Oxford Tube free Internet service as they would to any other Wi-Fi hotspot using their laptop, PDA, or mobile phone.
Stagecoach has been quick to leverage the built-in GPS functionality of the Moovbox to keep track of the fleet in real-time. “While the Wi-Fi service was the primary driver, the fact that the Icomera solution also offered integrated vehicle location was a major factor in our decision to commit to a commercial roll out once the trial was over and the technology proven,” says Bhasin.
Results & Next Steps
By October 2008, the Oxford Tube Wi-Fi service had been used over 200,000 times by 40,000 unique customers – a remarkable success for any hotspot service let alone one on buses. With an average session time of 40 minutes, it was clear that customers were making meaningful use of the service during their trip. Furthermore, research carried out by Stagecoach showed that the company had won passengers away from competing transportation including rail.
Oxford Tube and Icomera are now exploring ways in which the Moovbox GPS data can be used to help monitor and assess schedule adherence, while Stagecoach Group has rolled out the Moovbox solution on other major routes in the UK including Scotland and Cambridgeshire. “We’re delighted that our decision to pioneer new on-board services on Oxford Tube has paid off,” concludes Bhasin. “While our successful relationship with Icomera and Vodafone keeps us ahead of the competition, the ultimate beneficiaries are our passengers.”
