One-stop Bus Information with a Smart Phone
(October 4, 2011)

Gyeonggi Province and KT agree to commercialize Gyeonggi Bus Arrival Information NFC for the first time in Korea
22,000 bus stops to be equipped with NFC posters bearing QR codes by the end of 2011.

– Gyeonggi Province, KT, and EB Card agreed to install 22,000 NFC posters at all the bus stops in Gyeonggi Province to provide bus arrival information. Governor Kim is demonstrating the bus information NFC service, the bus arrival alert service for city busses in Gyeonggi Province, at a Hwaseomun bus stop in this picture taken on October 4th. (GNews Plus)

Now white-collar Gyeonggi Province resident “A” does not have to look at his watch repeatedly when he waits for the bus in the morning.

All you have to do is carry a smart phone with NFC capability. Hold it near the NFC (Near Field Communication) poster at the bus stop and you will get real-time information on the current location of the buses.

Even small bus stops that do not have a proper information board can be equipped with an NFC poster. The NFC service was launched as a financial service, but it is quickly spreading into our everyday lives.

For the first time in Korea, Gyeonggi Province will adopt the cutting-edge service using NFC chips and QR codes for bus stops around the province.

Gyeonggi Province, KT, and EB Card announced on October 4th that they have agreed to install NFC posters at 22,000 bus stops in Gyeonggi Province to provide bus arrival services to users.

NFC is currently used on traffic cards, credit cards, and cell phones for mobile payments. Once the technology is installed in the bus stations, all users have to do is to hold a smart phone with an embedded NFC chip near the poster to see the updated locations of buses.

The local government believes the new technology will be ideal for rural areas where it is difficult to install LED boards. Kim Cheol-jung of the Traffic Information Division said, “We are going to install 6,600 LED boards at bus stops by 2014, which is approximately 30% of all bus stops, but the price is very high. So far we have equipped 4,874 bus stops with such information boards. The NFC service is perfect for residents who use bus stops that not equipped with an LED board.”

The service also utilizes QR (Quick Response) codes. If your phone does not have NFC capability, simply use the QR code to access the same information. Those who have purchased the recently released iPhone 4 NFC case can go to the Apple App Store and download ‘olleh touch NFC’ and enter the ‘read tag’ menu.

The provincial government and KT have run the service on trial in Guri and Osan since August of 2011. Installation began in September.

-GNews Plus News | Son Rak-hun kuni1202@naver.com

http://gnews.gg.go.kr/news/news_detail.asp?number=201110041118575311C048&s_code=C048