Installation of the yellow panels has begun on the southern edge of the Lisbon metropolitan area and will start on the northern edge in early July.
They are tall, yellow, solar-powered, and have an electronic paper screen. The Metropolitan Carris will soon, about 370 panels where passengers can see how much time is left exactly for the next buses - Yes, they will be real-time schedules. They are being installed all over the Lisbon metropolitan area.
These public information panels are being placed at the main stops of Carris Metropolitana, which in the total of the Lisbon metropolitan area are more than 12 thousand. At this moment, the installation of the equipment in the South Bank is being finished, with 106 screens spread throughout the nine municipalities of that region; in the beginning of July, the work will advance to the nine municipalities of the North Bank, including Lisbon.
In total, there will be 370 outdoor panels and 50 indoor panels throughout the Lisbon metropolitan areacarried out by the company DMS - Displays & Mobility Solutions, Lda.which won, in 2021, the international public tender in the amount of 1.8 million euros.
Members of the FFP Discord Community have mapped the location of the new screens. The map, created on Google's platform, was started by user @Caziono (Daniel Resende) and other members have been involved:
The panels will give real-time information about Carris Metropolitana's lines, such as updated arrival times of the next buses and delays; and, in a second step, information about the capacity of the vehicles. Passengers will find this information in real time also on Carris Metropolitana's future mobile applicationwhich is being developed for iOS and Android environments together with a Navegante's mobile application (the Navegante app will allow you to manage your passenger account for all public transportation in amL and, among other features, load the pass).
No dates have been announced yet for the launching of these apps or for the startup of the new screens, but TML, which manages Carris Metropolitana, expects to start soon validating the real-time information it is receiving from the four operators (Alsa Todi, TST, Viação Avorada and RL) - a necessary verification step before such information is made available to the public. According to the company, there are 20 thousand daily services that go through more than 12 thousand bus stops, with more than 500 thousand daily passengers, transported in more than 1500 buses; and this is the combination of data that has to be managed and communicated to the passengers.
LPP is awaiting further details from TML and will update this article as soon as it has them.
