Originally posted by FireIce:
a mini bar counter kinda thing serving cold drinks
air-con
a display panel showing which bus is coming in how many mins
outdoor wireless surf zone
most importantly, dun raise fares
it's not impossible u noe, but most probably it will be realised only at the busiest and most popular bus stops. in fact, such concepts are alrd realised in some ways. take heeren bus stop. old chang kee, buzz news stand and nydc cafe are within walking distance from the bus stop. ur idea can actually be easily realised by putting a drinks vending machine at every bus stop, but it is probably whether there is enough demand or not. water cooler machines sounds cool, but i have a feeling ppl might steal them wholesale in the middle of the night to use at home. hahas.
as for air-con, i dun think so. fan will most prob be available. tis is due to:
- fear of abuse of bus stops as homeless shelters
- need for security as the bus stop will become a private area
- difficulty in control and prevention of smokers in the air-con area
- economical reasons
regarding the display panel, the technology is there, the system can be deployed in less than 2 years or even less than a year. in fact, there were talk tat SBST would launch such a system named SBS OnTime, but later LTA decided to take over the project and include SMRTB in it. however, bus companies have chose not to support its implementation as they could not agree on who should foot the bill (LTA, SBST, SMRTB or private sector), and whether tis shld be passed on to commuters through the increase of fares. an alternative is being tested now for service 518 where you can use your singtel mobile to get the ETA by dialling *655. however, it is not free, but probably the most cost-effective and economically viable.
as for outdoor wireless surfing, it might be possible, but who wants to administer it is another issue. currently, it is not cost effective to set up WLAN at every bus stop as the range of a typical WLAN access point of 100-300m means a ad-hoc network of WLAN access points fitted at each bus stop communicating with each other is not possible unless ground cables are laid connecting the bus stops, and tis will raise the cost of deployment significantly as roads have to be dug and cables laid. tis is due to the fact that the typical stop-to-stop distance is about 400m. however, i do envisage tat if they are going to lay such a network to support a real-time arrival time system, WLAN surfing can become a gd business idea to help defray the cost of deploying a WAN cabled network and generate revenue.