Bus City

It’s hard to believe that Xinxiang, my hometown in China, an “under-developed medium-sized city in the northwest China” (according to the mayor himself) could make it to the list of national demonstration cities for the development of “Bus City”. Together with Tianjin, Shanghai and Guangzhou, it belongs to the second batch of such nominated cities (the full list can be found on the website of Ministry of Transport of China). What’s the benefit? Well apart from enabling policies, the city will also receive 400m RMB (roughly £40m) funding which will be used to construct 3 BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) lines and other infrastructure. 

The list was announced in November 2013. However, it seems that the city had already started work to improve the bus system before then (maybe in preparation of such nomination?). In February 2012, GPS enabled fleet scheduling system, provided by 3-Union Star based in Shenzhen, was put into use. Based on the company website, the software uses GPRS/CDMA network to transmit vehicle location information sent by terminal installed on the bus. Then from November 2013, it’s possible to look up real time bus location using an app called MyBus. When first reading this news I was really impressed (or shocked to be precise) by the fact that my hometown could afford (or bother to spend money on) developing its own app for bus system, but then on further reading it became clear that the app was developed by a Xiamen based company called Sougu and it also offers real time bus information for many other cities in China. 

This is what a typical bus looks like inside in Xinxiang A screenshot from MyBus, compared to Bus London (the equivalent bus app I use for Lonndon) you can see which stop the bus is currently at Another screenshot from MyBus, you can actually see more than one bus

In London’s case, TfL signed a 10-year deal with Siemens as early as 2005 to install satellite tracking system, which costed £120m. And then 4 years later it signed a further 12-year deal with 3 other companies (Telent was the main one responsible for software development while the other two focused on hardware, installation and etc.) to develop mobile and Internet-based system to allow passengers access to real time information on routes and bus arrivals. In October 2011, Countdown Live Bus Arrivals website went alive. And in June 2012, TfL published API which allows third party to develop relevant apps (I wasn’t aware of such an API before and was always wondering how Bus London, the app I normally use, could magically retrieve the location information of all buses in London). 

A screenshot of Bus London. The query is based on bus stop and and it tells you how much longer you need to wait.

TfL’s dedication on technology is quite impressive. Its open data and relevant APIs cover tube, bus, Barclays Cycle, Oyster and a lot more. There’s also recent work on using radar-based detection software to help protect pedestrians and cyclists (we certainly need something like this in China, but the system needs to be extremely resilient and robust to accommodate freestyle Chinese pedestrians). 

This is not to say public transportation in my hometown is all bad. After all, it’s pretty reassuring that a single fare is still 1 RMB (roughly 10p) despite the ever raising inflation (my favourite flat bread stuffed with egg has gone up from 2 RMB to 4 in a few year’s time). 

If it’s not because my parents moved home, I probably wouldn’t have paid much attention to bus in my hometown. Before we were living right in the city center. All the places I ever need to visit are within 10-minute walking distance and it was rare for me to take any bus. However when I went back to China a few months ago, my parents had already moved to a remote suburb. It’s so far that it takes more than 40 minutes to get to city center by bus (which by the way is the only public transportation available). This might be tolerable in a big city like London, but then we’re looking at an “under-developed medium-sized city in the northwest China” (which traditionally speaking is less developed compared to the coastal area in the southeast). To make things worse, traffic jam is common and predictably always at the same location. What puzzles me is where all the people get money to buy all the cars and why on earth they need them?