London buses to have free Wi-Fi

A few days after Virgin Media’s Neil Berkett announced his plans of providing London with free Wi-Fi service, the city’s Director of Environment and Digital London, Kulveer Ranger, said that buses in London will be fitted with Wi-Fi.

The move will be part of Mayor Boris Johnson’s campaign to improve internet connectivity in the city. In May last year, he made a pledge to the audience of the Google Zeitgeist that “every lamp post and every bus stop will one day very soon, and before the 2012 Olympics, be Wi-Fi enabled.”

While it is unlikely to fit all lamp posts in the city with Wi-Fi routers within 12 months, Ranger said that the wheels are in motion to ensure that buses are connected to the internet.

Bus passengers will soon benefit from applications developed as a result of the bus countdown datasets’ release via the London Data Store. A vehicle location system called iBus collects data from buses and is used to trigger messages inside public buses. “There are 6.5 million journeys a day in London on 8,000 buses. The bus countdown datasets that we are pushing through will become immensely powerful in terms of real time data for transport,” Ranger explained.

This week, Virgin Media CEO Neil Berkett said that the company is in advanced negotiations with London borough authorities to offer free Wi-Fi to London residents. The free Wi-Fi will be formed by routers installed in Virgin Media’s street-side cabinets.

Do you think this is a good or bad idea from the mayor?

via: ZD Net