Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority (LANTA) in the UK plans to install a GPS-based real-time information system for providing bus-related information to travellers.

The initiative will provide precise arrival times via web-enabled phones at any stop along the way by monitoring the location of every bus on the road.

It will also help LANTA to adapt its route structure more effectively by providing better detailed passenger counts, pickup and exit-point data and other information.

In addition, it will help drivers by providing the inputs of route information at the start of each route.

A crawler display will be used to transmit the arrival times of multiple buses and other pertinent information like the cause of a bus delay.

LANTA plans to install the displays at bus terminals in Allentown and Bethlehem in the UK and eventually Easton.

Enhanced driver-dispatcher communications and a covert emergency alarm system for drivers are some of the features of the system.

The system also has the ability to pinpoint service demands through automated passenger counts, particularly for critical city routes.

It is estimated that it will take about a year to fully implement the contract; however, real-time estimates of bus arrival times will be available from the second quarter of 2010.