Sat nav timetable for passengers

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A website which uses satellite navigation to allow passengers to check exactly when their bus is due is to be launched in the capital.

Mybustracker.co.uk can pinpoint when buses equipped with GPS will turn up at any particular stop throughout Edinburgh and Midlothian.

Heavy traffic and roadworks often lead to buses arriving later than expected.

The scheme is believed to be the first in Scotland to offer "real time" bus information to passengers.

BusTracker allows the user to quickly learn when their next bus will arrive from the comfort of their office, home or mobile.

With work on trams and major roadworks about to begin in the city centre, passengers will not have to turn up for a bus until the satellite system tells them that one is due Phil WheelerEdinburgh City Council

Developed by the Edinburgh City Council and Lothian Buses, the system will complement the success of BusTracker display screens, currently installed at hundreds of stops in Edinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian.

Using Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) technology, BusTracker follows the movement of 530 buses.

Central computers can now relay this information to the BusTracker website as well bus stop screens.

Kept informed

Phil Wheeler, Edinburgh City Council transport convener, said: "Thanks to BusTracker, passengers now have a realistic time of when their bus will arrive at a particular stop.

"Accessing BusTracker via the internet or mobile phone is ideal whenever buses are delayed and with work on trams and major roadworks about to begin in the city centre, passengers will not have to turn up for a bus until the satellite system tells them that one is due."

Sestran chairman Russell Imrie said: "Real time information systems like BusTracker are a common sense way of putting people back in control of their journeys.

"They know when the next bus will arrive and are kept informed of any potential delays or other problems."

Iain Coupar, Lothian Buses marketing director, added: "The availability of 'real time' bus information through mobiles and PCs will be welcomed by the thousands of passengers who already get their bus times from the web."