Stagecoach gets ‘busy bus’

Stagecoach is launching a new smartphone “busy bus” indicator to help customers plan their journeys as services increase across the country.

The new feature on the Stagecoach bus app will use extensive data and artificial intelligence to provide a traffic light indicator to help customers choose quieter services and maintain social distancing.

The app is now being rolled out to iOS and android users and is planned to be fully in place by 18 June. The “busy bus” tracker will provide a regularly updated guide to how busy individual bus services are in networks across the UK. Each service in the live map on the app will be colour coded, with quieter buses showing in a green bus icon indicating ‘not too busy’, through to amber ‘quite busy’ and dark amber ‘very busy’.

Stagecoach is continuing to increase capacity on bus services to support social distancing. Strict cleaning regimes continue, which includes at least a daily clean of all buses with an anti-viral sanitiser. Contactless payment is also available on all buses.