Vientiane bus users should no longer have to worry about waiting for public buses because transport officials are installing a bus locator system and traffic observation packet sensor system to modernise bus transport services.
These systems will be installed on the capital’s buses as well as at police posts to help improve bus services in Vientiane and offer more convenience to local passengers as well as foreign tourists.
Tech savvy bus passengers will be able to use their smartphones to follow to the location of the buses that they are waiting for, which will help to predict arrival times.
Meanwhile, the systems will also be used to observe the number of vehicles on the roads and give priority to heavy traffic in a bid to avoid and reduce congestion.
Some 100 items including 60 bus location systems as well as Wi-Fi packet sensors, screen displays and personal computers for the control centre to use for traffic observation packet sensor systems were handed over recently.
The equipment was presented to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and Vientiane Capital State Bus Enterprise (VCSBE) in order that the system can be officially rolled out in the capital.
The project has been funded by the Japanese government through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). It’s expected that more Vientiane residents will be confident in public transport services following the introduction of the electronic systems, thereby reducing traffic congestion in the capital.
The handover ceremony took place yesterday in Vientiane between Deputy Director General of the Department of Transport, MrBouaphetSayasane and Senior Representative from JICA, Mr. Shunsuke Sakudo.
The JICA verification survey was undertaken in conjunction with the private sector to disseminate Japanese technologies including new location information systems and traffic observation systems towards urban transport improvement in Vientiane.
It was implemented from May 2015 to October this year and implemented by Japan Research Institute for Social Systems (JRISS).
JICA oversaw the survey scheme in order to provide VCSBE route bus location information systems and the Vientiane central area road traffic congestion information system, which utilises advanced intelligent transport systems (ITS) such as smartphones and Wi-Fi packet sensors to improve bus services and the traffic situation in Vientiane by providing on-time traffic data through the internet.
According to JRISS, the information is accessible to all by connecting to http://lao.busnavi.asia. The number of accumulated accesses to the site was around 273,500 by early October 2016 and recent site accesses numbered over 1,000 per day on average.
In Vientiane, traffic congestion which related to the rapid increase of car registration numbers is one of the significant concerning issues to boost public transportation use among citizens.
In addition, traffic planning and city planning based on accurate data and information was one of the governmental issues to be solved. This JICA verification survey was set up in order to overcome issues and challenges in the introduction of the system.
The JRISS is expected to expand the applied system to international and inter-city observation systems and vehicle logistics operation observation systems in Vientiane in cooperation with Lao private companies after the completion of the JICA survey scheme.
Source: Vientiane Times
