bus browsers
by John Craig
I admit it. Today I missed my bus stop because I was blearily watching only fools and horses on the bus's television, between, of course, hundreds of adverts. Our London Calling report, published last year, mentioned buses in Tokyo capable of phoning people at the stop they need. However, that I was so insulated from the world around me is scary in itself. These entries to a competition to find ways to connect virtual and public space include a 'bus browser' - a bus which exploits wireless technology to pool passengers' knowledge about the route, and display it on the screen as the journey progresses. Crazy, but if I was engaged in collective remberance and democratic debate on the way to work, I really wouldn't miss my stop.
Polly Turton
People waiting for and travelling on buses are a huge potentially captive audience for all sorts of creative and innovative forms of communicating infromation and ideas. Advertisers such as JC Decaux and Adshel know this already, and the introduction of TV screens on buses indicates that others are beginnning to pick up on it. I have been in preliminary discussions with ecologists and artists about the idea of creating 'green roofs' on the top of bus stop shelters for the aesthetic pleasure of top deck passengers and adjacent office workers, with information boards at street level explaining the benefits of green roofs for biodiversity and sustainable urban drainage for those waiting for the next bus. Have yet to approach organisations such as Transport for London and the big advertisers for support and funding but I know for a fact that a Swiss Bank is interested in a project which can spread good practice from Switzerland. If anyone is interested to find out more visit www.livingroofs.org or if you'd like to get involved contact me pturton@cabe.org.uk
Nick Temple
We had a similar idea suggested a while back for air travel: the Think Jet, which would involve people having a computer terminal at their seats and being encouraged to join in the 'airborne think-tank'....