INIT Innovations in Transportation Ltd. has been awarded a contract for the delivery of a new technology system for London’s buses, providing on-board, back office and support services for Transport for London (TfL). INIT Ltd. (Nottingham) is a wholly owned UK subsidiary of init SE, headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany.

INIT will be providing an on-board computer (OBU) and ancillary devices for all buses in TfL’s vehicle fleet. INIT’s technology will be used by TfL to help manage operations on more than 8,000 buses running around 700 bus routes and serving over 19,000 bus stops across Greater London. The existing system, which is the current Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system for the London bus network will be replaced under this new contract. The result of the new system will be enhanced reliability of service and high-quality customer information.

Jens Mullak, INIT Limited’s MD said, “We are very proud to be selected by TfL as the supplier for the next generation of the iBus system. This confirms that our long-term technology strategy has been positively recognised. The new system will have a modular open technology platform that is scalable and accommodates TfL’s future development ambitions. We are delighted that TfL joins our existing customer group of more than 1,100 public transport organisations worldwide. Our team is looking forward to working with TfL to deliver a world-class on-bus hardware and back office solution for London”.

The design philosophy for the replacement system is based on an open architecture modular platform, built around Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and open state-of-the-art IT standards such as MQTT or ITxPT. The system can evolve over time as customers’ needs and technology trends evolve, allowing flexibility to add modules without the need to redesign existing core solutions. INIT’s use of industry standards ensures maximum interoperability, security and ease of integration with existing systems:

Open architecture based on RESTful APIs – 3rd party integration
Horizontally scalable – the correct size for every customer
Near real-time data processing for operational performance measures
Data broker and open APIs for real-time passenger information (MQ Telemetry Transport – MQTT)
Information Technology for Public Transport (ITxPT) standards for the most flexible vehicle architecture
This innovative solution is the culmination of more than six years’ focus to develop an extremely powerful open Fleet Management platform that includes a rich selection of customisable tools and services that may be consumed either in the cloud or in a conventional environment.