Skånetrafiken, Sweden

Skånetrafiken, the Traffic Authority of the Skåne County in South of Sweden, strive to provide world-class public transport. Skånetrafiken’s vision of being the obvious choice for passengers and at the same time contribute to a sustainable society. Skånetrafiken’s long-term goal is to double the market share to 40% by 2030.

Travel has increased every year in the Skåne region, from about 70 million trips in 1999 to 164 million trips in 2016.

Skånetrafiken’s goal

To get more satisfied customers and to reach the goal of increased travel, Skånetrafiken offer passengers added value and a better quality. A part of this is increasing the number of real-time information displays. Skånetrafiken has a requirement that real-time information should be available at bus stops frequented by a minimum of 10 passengers per day.  The long-term goal is to completely replace the printed and static information with real-time displays.

Proactive and innovative partner

To reach the goal of happier passengers, Skånetrafiken wanted a supplier who could deliver real-time information displays along with related services. Important factors were quality, reliability and being able to offer an easy roll out of potentially thousands of displays to stops not necessarily equipped with any source of power.

Axentia was chosen as Skånetrafiken’s proactive partner being able to meet requirements such as market leading product development, proactive monitoring, easy roll out and being able to offer short delivery times.

“The innovation offered by Axentia has enabled Skånetrafiken to be at the forefront in the area of real-time presentation technology.”
Björn Wallin, Head of Technology, Skånetrafiken

Different needs for different stops

Skånetrafiken has a total of 2 500 real-time information displays. The applied product range meet different needs for different stops. The displays are mounted on walls, poles, in ceilings or as totems.

LCD displays

The largest number of Skånetrafiken’s displays are battery operated LCD displays with two or four information rows. The displays run solely on battery for 3 years and are updated via GSM/3G/4G/5G LTE. Displays delivered are tested for +70 to -30 degrees Celsius.

An ongoing project is to equip some of the LCD displays with solar panels to further utilise the low power technology and extend battery life up to 10 years.

The LCD displays are placed on broadcast level and are often supplemented with digital timetables at one-on-one height. These digital timetables are based on e-paper technology and have four buttons enabling travellers to interact and find the exact information they are looking.

TFT displays

This range of displays are powered by mains power and intermittent streetlight power and rechargeable batteries.

The large top displays are used at Express stops. The real-time information needs to be seen from a long distance, therefore the information is visualised large and clear with a graphical count-down wheel together with the number of minutes left to the next arrival.

Some TFT displays have touch screens allowing travellers to interact and access the exact information they are looking for. Information and disruption messages can be accessed via a separate information tab giving more detailed information.

In addition, since the graphical area is fully configurable Skånetrafiken has developed several layouts also adding infotainment (pictures and videos) to some displays to extend information reach and make the journey more enjoyable for travellers.

Text-to-speech button

All displays, whether LCD or TFT, are equipped with a text-to-speech functionality making the information accessible to visually impaired people.  The text-to-speech button is always placed near the display from which the information is read out loud allowing people with a minor visually impairment to read the digital information and at the same time get support from the text-to-speech. The voice reading out the real-time information is a unique voice recorded specially for Skånetrafiken. In this way all destination names are pronounced in the right way with the local dialect.