Case Helsinki City Transport

Flexibility for Public Transport by Means of Wireless Broadband

The network based on a WLAN connection and Digita’s @450 broadband will provide the passengers of Helsinki City Transport with traffic light priority, real-time public transport data and free Internet connection in busses and trams. The service is being used in about 30 HCT trams and busses. The mobile broadband will be extended to cover the Helsinki tram transport almost entirely during winter 2007/2008. The objective is to fully cover bus transport at the latest during 2009. In the future, the service will also facilitate buying and paying for trips.

From the passengers’ point of view, the main benefit of the network connection in buses is the shortening of the travelling time. One of the most important goals of the broadband network is thus to speed up public transport. A vehicle connected to the system can be identified using sensors, thanks to which traffic lights will change to be more favourable for the bus or tram.

In addition to a smoother journey, the WLAN connection in buses and trams offer the passengers an opportunity to retrieve real-time information on public transport and a free connection to the Internet during the journey.

The passengers can follow the bus route from their own terminals and check the schedules of their connections leaving from the following bus stops. In addition, the advantages of the @450 network are high-speed data transfer and shorter delays than in the mobile phone network which, from the viewpoint of the user, means quicker downloading of files.

Thanks to Digita’s mobile broadband network, costs can be efficiently controlled. Instead of an application separately installed in every vehicle only one common system is needed for all means of transport.

New Alternative Ways of Payment

New alternatives will be available for payment in the next couple of years. The new payment system developed by Matkahuolto utilises the new wireless broadband system. Paying for one’s tickets will become easier as they can be bought anywhere by using any electronic payment method, such as the Internet or mobile phone. Additional travelling rights can be purchased anywhere using any means of payment, and loading the card with specific equipment is no longer necessary.

Instead of a travel card, the terminal in the vehicle reads the information needed from, for example, a personal identity card, bank or credit card, rfid tag and, in the future, from biometric identification solutions such as a fingerprint.

Thanks to mobile broadband connection in busses and trams, many other services for the benefit of the driver and passengers can be created in the future. Among others, it can be used to build an instructive traffic data system for the drivers to monitor the route and adherence to the schedule or camera monitoring for the safety of the driver and passengers alike.

Digita’s @450 broadband service is based on Flash-OFDM technology. It gives a new opportunity to place WLAN base stations where they could not be placed before. In addition to mobile objects, the network can be extended to areas with no other trunk connections.