iBus (London)

iBus is an Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system to improve London Buses using technology installed by Siemens.

[7] After successful initial tests in 2006, radio presenter Emma Hignett was chosen to record all announcements after popularity in a user survey,[8] being rolled out on all London buses between 2007-09.

Alongside route information, iBus can also play ‘operational’ pre-recorded announcements to passengers on board the bus.

[10] It does this using several instruments: The essential part of the system relies on GPS satellite data that roughly determine the location of a bus down to 100 metres.

However, users will have the pay the standard network rate for sending the text, plus an additional 12p charge to receive the response.

Communications improvements have also meant that Countdown can now display service updates, disruption information and network-wide messages.

The cost of fitting iBus to buses and garages up to 3 January 2009 was £18.8m[17] which was part of a Transport for London (TfL) £117m upgrade to the bus fleet communications system.

[18][19] The number of complaints received from bus companies or TfL employees relating to the use of the iBus between 23 January 2008 and 11 February 2009 was 254.

In 2024, TfL signed a 10 year, £160 million contract with INIT to replace the current iBus system.