From today, passengers on STCP route 207 (Campanhã/Mercado da Foz) will have free access to the Internet and digital television when travelling.

The Sociedade de Transportes Colectivos do Porto (Society of Collective Transport in Porto - STCP) has announced that for the next six months project SITme “will offer broadband Internet and digital television to thousands of passengers on that route as part of a trial”.

This service will be available in 11 buses and will help “time spent travelling pass more quickly and as added value it will update passengers with information in real-time on local and world news”, states the STCP.

The company has stated that the initiative is ready to be implemented on the tube and in taxis, “allowing passengers to use the service throughout their journey on different types of transport”.

The project is co-funded by the National Strategic Reference Framework as part of the Regional Operational Programme in the North (ON.2) and was developed by partners Xarevision, the company responsible for content management systems, INESC TEC and the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP). This communicational equipment for public transport is “able to intelligently and cognitively use and activate various types of wireless technology such as 3G, Wi-Fi and WiMax", adds the STCP.

The cable television channel Porto Canal and the weekly Grande Porto are also part of the project and will be responsible for the news items broadcast throughout the day.

The STCP also announced that SITme “is a high quality service offered to passengers and introduces technological innovation both in terms of communication and entertainment while travelling”.

Thinking about exporting the technology

The Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto have conducted a study to show the communicational systems’ market potential and its potential for commercialisation. The aim will be to create “an innovative product and business model that can be exported for the metropolitan transport market”, states the STCP. 

Público, 22nd December 2011