Originally posted by stooper:
I dunno whether this is new or not, but now the SBS buses, on the VDS(I think) console displays the arrival and departure times of the bus. When the bus reaches the interchange, there'll be a loud BEEP and the timetable changes to the next round.
The console is called DDU. It does not display arrival & departure times, instead it displays how many minutes the BC is ahead/behind schedule by. When the bus reaches the interchange, the farestage on the DDU is automatically reset to 1.0 even though the IDFC is still at the last farestage. Since the time includes the break time of the BC, the DDU assumes the BC is ahead of schedule at FS 1.0, hence it gives out a loud, high pitch BEEP.
Some of the items displayed by the DDU:
Ahead of schedule:
- console will give on high pitch beep if ahead by 3mins or more
- right side of the console will have a red light
- top left corner of the display will show +(M-1), eg: 3mins = +2
Behind schedule:
- console will give a low pitch beep if behind by 3mins or more
- right side of the console will have a green light
- top left corner of the display will show -(M-1), eg: 3mins = -2
GPRS out of range/no coverage:
- top right corner of the display will show the word GPRS crossed out.
- top of the display will show "NO COVERAGE" or "OUT OF RANGE"
- centre of the display will show error message.
Off route (meaning road diversion or BC go wrong road):
- right side of display will show a picture of a road being crossed out.
Front/Exit Door Open/Close:
- top of the display will show "DOOR OPEN" or "DOOR CLOSED"
- console will give a continuous pitch if bus moves off with the display still showing "DOOR OPEN" (faulty or no interlock, door not closed properly)
Selected major bus stops:
- bottom of the display will show FS number & bus stop code (eg "FS:30.0 BS:02151)
Any errors (such as no coverage, faulty console, correct login wrong bus , no radio communications, etc) will be shown at the centre of the display.
BCs need not do anything to the console...all data will be transferred from the IDFC or from GPRS. System monitored in depot by service controllers.