Transport for London Continuing Tests On E-Paper Bus Stop Timetable Displays
February 20, 2020 by Dave Haynes
Transport For London continues to test e-paper displays at surface transport bus stops, with a London-based company called Papercast announcing what it terms a successful trial of a solar powered e-paper bus stop displays at bus stops on Lower Sloane Street (Stop M) and Waterloo Bridge (Stop P) in central London.
The trial was run to “help identify a viable digital display technology that can operate continuously at locations without mains power.”
“We have been evaluating e-paper technology for some time now and are very impressed by the advancements made, both in terms of performance and functionality,” says Simon Reed, TfL’s Head of Tech & Data – Surface Transport. “We are continuously exploring new ways to deliver information to our customers using the most cost-effective technology available that meets our challenging operating environment that works effectively, is a future-proof solution and will keep London moving.”
I pretty much walked right past one of those in London a couple of weeks ago, but missed it. Even a digital signage nerd like me can find more interesting things to focus on in that amazing capital city.
TfL has also tested gear from the Slovenian firm Visionect. It is not clear if Papercast and Visionect have any business ties, but Papercast has an office in the same Slovenian city, and two of the test locations from 2015 are the same.
The pitch with e-paper displays for transport is their ability to run 24/7 with updated information without needing to dig up sidewalks and streets to run electrical cables, to drive a display and related gear. E-paper only uses energy when it changes information, or to help illuminate the screen at night. It gets enough energy to do that using small solar collector panels.
Dave
E-Ink has been working on this for sometime state side, and can deploy with color. Any word whether this solution can also handle color?