CHK America, a designer of customer information solutions for the U.S. public transportation industry and E Ink Holdings (E Ink), an innovator of electronic ink technology, announced a plan to provide more flexibility to transit agencies and better information to customers. Their first product through this partnership is Digital Bus Stops, which were on display at the Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas March 16 to 17.
The Digital Bus Stops will provide transit riders with easily-readable, up-to-date information at bus stops under all lighting conditions.They can be easily deployed almost anywhere without requiring electrical infrastructure at bus stops.
"Traditionally, at-stop information has been static, making update costs prohibitive, and the lack of electrical power at the vast majority of bus stops has made digital options impossible, until now," said Rick Wood, CEO of CHK America. "Together with E Ink, we are replacing traditional static signs with high-contrast, sunlight-readable displays operated via battery or solar. The solution enables transit agencies to deliver service change updates to bus stops everywhere effectively and efficiently from one central location without expensive electrical infrastructure improvements, and at the same time provide improved service to riders with real-time departure information."
"The large area signage displays are ultra-low power and provide exceptional outdoor readability making them the ideal solution where power availability is a premium," said Harit Doshi, head of the Signage Business Unit for E Ink.
Digital Bus Stops are an important development for transit agencies whose customers do not want to, or are not able to, rely on mobile technology to receive updates. A November 2015 HNTB Corp. study revealed that 38% of Americans would be motivated to take public transit more often if real-time schedules were displayed on location. An October 2015 study by Pew Research Center revealed that only 52% of adults with a household income of less than $30K own a smart phone. Other barriers to using a smart phone for this use can result in expensive data and text charges; correctly inputting locations; small screens to decipher text, among other things.
CHK America clients, LYNX-Orlando and Pittsburgh's Port Authority of Alleghany County are set to test prototypes of the Digital Bus Stops.
CHK America is in development on additional products utilizing E Ink technology across various industry sectors including transit agencies and smart city developers.
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