PlusOne - Musings of a marketer

It’s late afternoon and you are wondering if it will be a slow stroll to the bus or train stop or if you hurry, you can catch the next bus/train and avoid a half hour wait. But how do you know when the next bus/train will be passing your stop? SMS can help.

In Wales it is not a problem. They have introduced an SMS text service that allows you to text the code of your stop and you will receive a text message back telling you the next four departure times.

Use your mobile phone to find out the times of the next bus

The search results show the text message code (eg. powdtdp) next to the information for each stop. To find out the times of the next buses passing that stop just:

1. Create a text message with just the stop code (for instance, CDIJAWD)
2. Send the text message to 84268
3. Within a few seconds you’ll receive up-to-the minute departure info for that bus stop on your mobile as a text message.

I guess with the length of Welsh town names a code was the way to go !

PlusOne has offered this service to transit operations in Australia - with the ability to put in your ‘get on’ and ‘get off’ points and the system can tell you the times and even which platform - great for when there are thousands of people wanting to catch transport after a sporting even for instance. Text in your requirements and you may find you are better off sitting tight for an additional 10 minutes thereby giving the main crowd time to disperse.

More on the Welsh system can be found here traveline Cymru: index