Stephen Fry has gone and got himself stuck in a lift again, and you're amongst the first person to know about it: yes, it's that popular internet fad Twitter, the micro-blogging service. Don't stop reading please – I was only joking. There is a certain amount of fun to be had regarding the concept of Twitter, but the recent announcement that Vodafone users could join their fellow tweeters in the USA by being sent SMS updates means that there is a lot of potential for real-time information for those on the go.
The bus station in Bath set up a Customer Service Blog where they could post news items about bus services. That's a nice service to have assuming there is an internet connection and you are prepared to check periodically for service disruptions, but what if there isn't? Following on from the snow disruption in February, the team started tweeting @bathcsc with short updates. So now passengers can be sent SMS news reports, e.g. "Service 13 delayed after an incident at Elmhurst :-( road is now open after temporary closure by police" – a routine minor event but one which ordinarily would leave passengers at the bus stop not knowing what's happening.
Most major bus companies have some form of control room, someone who keeps an eye on where buses are and where they should be. For a very small amount of effort it should be possible to pass on news direct to customers via Twitter. Surely it's a no-brainer and something that other bus companies should be looking into? Well done to the local team at First for putting this into place.
Of course, this is a top-down approach: @twaffik is a Manchester based service which relies on individual users themselves relaying travel information on to the rest of the user base – it's a grass-roots project, from the bottom up. Would such a system be better than information handed down from on high? There's scope for much faster dissemination of information, as users report problems as soon as they encounter them. However, like many such crowdsourcing solutions, what you get out is only as good as what you put in. Does it matter from a philosophical view that a delay goes unreported if no-one was around to report it? The creators are talking about their project at the Social Media Cafe in Manchester tonight (Tuesday), which should make for an interesting session.
How useful would Twitter be as a cheap form of real-time information on where a particular vehicle is? That seems to be the thinking behind @V1Bus, which seemingly uses its GPS system to send a tweet everytime it reaches the next major bus stop. It's perhaps not a surprise that the V1 is a contract service put on for the Vodafone in Newbury – what better passengers to testbed such innovations on? The updates are a little useless when taken in isolation. Perhaps the Google Map on the associated website is a little more fun.
Of course, @britainbybus will be making use of Twitter when our six day adventure begins in less than two weeks time. Not long to go now...
Image credit: tim caynes on Flickr
2 comments:
Unfortuanately, the Twaffik creators are no longer giving their talk at Social Media Cafe Manchester tonight, as they've had to postpone it to a future session. Still, it should be an interesting evening for those that go.
Oh dear - I hope I didn't put a jinx on things. Thanks for the update, Rob.
The other session tonight, about charitable uses of Twitter, looks equally appropriate :)
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