Cornwall county council has rolled out Real Time Passenger Information (RTPI) at Park for Truro bus stops.

It is the latest enhancement to the already successful park and ride service. The on street electronic displays show when the next bus is due to arrive so that passengers need never worry about how much longer they will have to wait until the next bus.

RTPI has been introduced to the stops at Truro College, County Arms, Truro Rail Station and Victoria Square, as well as on the main displays in the reception building at the Park for Truro site. The displays give passengers a countdown in minutes until the arrival of the next park and ride bus as well as showing the stop name and current time. When the bus is less than a minute away the display will show ‘Due’ rather than a time.

They are a fantastic addition to the already well-performing service and will give the 850 daily passengers who use the service important information on their journey time as well as helping in attracting new users to the service.

The Park for Truro buses are equipped with technology that sends messages about their whereabouts, via satellite, to a central computer. These are then sent to the receiving equipment in the shelters and turned into messages that are displayed on the screen.

Nigel Blackler, head of transportation at Cornwall county council, said: “Real Time Passenger Information is a big improvement in public transport information provision in Cornwall. Passengers using the Park for Truro service will now be able to tell, with confidence, when their next bus will arrive.

“The next stage we are working on is providing web-based information to passengers so they can see when the next bus will arrive before setting out on their journey. This enhancement reinforces our commitment to deliver a high quality public transport service for the people of Cornwall.”

The Royal Cornwall Museum stop does not yet have RTPI but is proving to be a very popular Park for Truro stop with passengers.

The county council would like to provide the improved bus infrastructure at this stop, such as a shelter and RTPI, as it has at other stops on the service and will be working with partners and stakeholders to find a suitable solution.

Real Time Passenger Information is currently only available at the Park for Truro stops, and only provides information on Park for Truro buses.

The technology is expected to be extend the technology to other services and hopes to work with local bus operators to enable this on all services into and out of Truro.