Importance

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Abstract

A system for notifying passengers waiting for public transit vehicles of the status of the vehicles, including the arrival times of vehicles at stops. The system includes global position determining devices located in the vehicles for determining the location of the vehicles along their routes. A central processor or computer is coupled to the global position determining devices for receiving the locations of vehicles therefrom. The processor is programmed to compute and update from the present location of the transit system vehicles and electronically stored information a transit data table which includes status information for all the vehicles in the system, including the location of scheduled stops, connections to other transit vehicles at the stops, and the arrival times of vehicles at their stops. The vehicle status and other information, including news and advertisements are then made available for public access in a manner geared to the locations of the vehicles, the time of day, day of week, date, location, season, holiday, weather etc. Portable access means such as pagers, notebook and palm computers and telephones and stationary access means such as personal computers and telephones and display modules in communication with the central processor, receive the computed arrival time and other information for selected routes, stops, etc. from the central processor, and communicate the information to the passenger(s).

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First Claim