OLWIN: Bus Poster Production Tool for the West Yorkshire Combined Authority

Established in 2014, West Yorkshire Combined Authority (Combined Authority) is a strategic authority with governance over transport, economic development and regeneration for the Leeds City Region. The Combined Authority also operate the Metro network of bus stations, travel centres and public transport information in West Yorkshire.

With six service changes for bus and rail each year, the task of keeping travel information up to date has not been simple. The public transport team at the Combined Authority needed an effective way of managing updates to over 100 'where to board your bus' posters across the region. The Combined Authority decided to replace their existing system, taking the opportunity to add a number of enhancements and move to a hosted, cloud-based solution with an easy-to-use, intuitive interface.

The Combined Authority commissioned Pindar Creative to deliver the new solution within three months of the project start date. Our existing OLWIN (Onward Localised Wayside Information Notices) solution was customised to the Combined Authorities specific requirements. OLWIN is a tool to identify all bus stops within a specified radius of a hub and automatically generate destination information required for onward travel and wayfinding posters. Once new TransXChange data imports are carried out, the inbuilt reporting system will identify which posters need to be updated based upon agreed parameters and business logic.

For the mapping element we created a new, seamless cartographic base covering the whole area at 1:2,500 and reflecting the 'Legible Leeds' branding, which is widely recognised in the area. The user interface allows the team at the Combined Authority to add additional features to the base mapping, such as cycle parking, taxi ranks, points of interest and stand-alone text labels. The team can select from a number of pre-determined templates and can include or omit bus stops, services and destinations dependent on the available space within each poster.

OLWIN was delivered on time and on budget providing the team at the Combined Authority with an effective, automated way of producing new, or updating, onward travel information posters.

To find out more, please read the OLWIN: Bus Poster Production Tool For WYCA case study