The Real Time Information Group (also RTI) is an organisation in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

supporting the development of bus

passenger information system A passenger information system, or passenger information display system, is an automated system for supplying users of public transport with information about the nature and the state of a public transport service through visual, voice or other m ...

s; its 45 members include

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

operators, consultants and system suppliers together with representatives from the

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. The main output of the group is guidelines, standards, case studies and best practice documents. These documents are produced by RTIG on behalf of its members, usually with the assistance of specialist working groups.

History

In 2000, when real-time information (RTI) systems were beginning to be considered by UK local authorities to provide travellers with up-to-the-minute bus arrival and departure passenger information, it was realised that cross-boundary bus services made it imperative to coordinate projects around the UK. Technical and operational standards would therefore be required. A group of local authorities and bus operators began to meet regularly to discuss how to achieve this; and so RTIG was born. Substantial government funding for projects around the UK, in particular from 2002 to 2004, provided an enormous boost to the development of RTI systems. The expanding and maturing market caused RTIG to reflect on its role, and in 2003 it determined to recreate itself as a subscription group - with the important step that the systems industry was to be a full and equal partner in its work. Equally importantly, it has maintained excellent links with central UK Government, from whom the Group continues to receive project funding for work of national scope and importance. The National RTI Strategy, ratified in March 2007, establishes a framework for how industry stakeholders and government need to work together to deliver benefit to passengers. RTIG's role has, as a consequence, been expanded to cover all aspects of technology in public transport, from systems to support disabled travellers through to

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly di ...

and

security" \n\n\nsecurity.txt is a proposed standard for websites' security information that is meant to allow security researchers to easily report security vulnerabilities. The standard prescribes a text file called \"security.txt\" in the well known locat ...

systems.

Annual survey

In 2002 the group produced the first UK Annual RTI Survey, which surveyed the use of RTI technology by local authorities and

passenger transport executive In the United Kingdom, passenger transport executives (PTEs) are local government bodies which are responsible for public transport within large urban areas. They are accountable to combined authorities, which were created between 2011 and 20 ...

s across

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, as well as plans for the following two years. In 2004 the survey was extended to include

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and in 2005

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

. In order to reflect the widening deployment of bus-related technologies, the 2006 annual survey was re-branded as the ‘RTIG Passenger Transport Technology Survey’ and included questions on services for disabled travellers – partly in response to new obligations on bus operators under the

Disability Discrimination Act 2005 The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 (c 13) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Section 20 - Short title, interpretation, commencement and extent The following orders have been made under section 20(3):The Disability Discrimina ...

. The 2007 survey continues to focus broadly on public transport and traffic management technology and has been expanded to include questions on bus

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly tr ...

and other security technologies. The annual survey provides details on: *Number of RTI equipped buses in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

*Number of RTI signs in GB *Use of

audio Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound *Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum * Digital audio, representation of soun ...

equipment on and off buses in GB *Costs of implementing and maintaining RTI in GB *Trends in integration of RTI with UTMC technology *The provision of information for disabled travellers in GB *Passenger and driver security systems (on and off bus) The annual survey has been discontinued with the last being carried out in 2012.

Working Groups

The majority of the documents, standards and guidelines produced by RTIG is done with the assistance of voluntary working groups. These working groups are made up of industry experts who lend their knowledge to particular projects. Examples of RTIG working groups include: *Data Suppliers Working Group *Shelter Implementation Working Group *Disability Working Group *On-bus architecture Working Group *GPRS Interface Working Group Working groups involve non-members where relevant; so, the Disability WG includes representatives from charities such a

RNIB The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is a UK charity offering information, support and advice to almost two million people in the UK with sight loss. History The RNIB was founded by Thomas Rhodes Armitage, a doctor who had eye ...

and

Guide Dogs A guide is a person who leads travelers, sportspeople, or tourists through unknown or unfamiliar locations. The term can also be applied to a person who leads others to more abstract goals such as knowledge or wisdom. Travel and recreation Expl ...

The RTIG library

The RTIG library houses all of the documents produced by the group to date. These documents are held by RTIG electronically and distributed to members on request, or via the ‘members area’ of the RTIG website. The library catalogue is publicly available from the RTIG websit

Publicly available documents in the Library include: *The RTIG National Strateg

*RTI and disabled traveller

*Managing Disruptions Serie

https://www.rtig.org.uk/documents/rtigpr015-d003-02] *Business Case Study Repor

Members have access to a wider range of standards and guidelines, and to the outputs of RTIG workshops (see below). The group also publishes a monthly newslette

which provides both members and non-members with news on RTIG projects and events.

RTIG workshops

RTIG runs regular

workshops Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the onl ...

, which are held at a different UK venue each time. Each workshop has a central theme and attract

presentations A presentation conveys information from a speaker to an audience. Presentations are typically demonstrations, introduction, lecture, or speech meant to inform, persuade, inspire, motivate, build goodwill, or present a new idea/product. Presenta ...

from a wide variety of stakeholders. Workshops will include an update on ITS news, an update on RTIG projects and working group activities, and a set of presentations based around the workshop theme. Previous workshop venues (and their respective themes) includ

*

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

(January 2006) –

Marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to empha ...

RTI *

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

(April 2006) –

Demand Responsive Transport Demand-responsive transport (DRT), also known as demand-responsive transit, demand-responsive service,
US National Trans ...

and On-Bus Security *

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

(July 2006) – The Financial Aspects of RTI *

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

(November 2006) – The Future of Technology in

Public Transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typic ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

(February 2007) – Standards and Specifications *

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

(April 2007) – On and off bus security *

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Linco ...

(July 2007) – Bus operators' perspectives of RTI *

York York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

(November 2007) - Integrating RTI

RTIG involvement in international standards

RTIG have assisted in the development of a number of standards, including the

Service Interface for Real Time Information The Standard Interface for Real-time Information or SIRI is an XML protocol to allow distributed computers to exchange real-time information about public transport services and vehicles. The protocol is a CEN norm, developed originally as a tec ...

(SIRI). RTIG have also developed a number of best practice

guidelines A guideline is a statement by which to determine a course of action. A guideline aims to streamline particular processes according to a set routine or sound practice. Guidelines may be issued by and used by any organization (governmental or pri ...

References

External links

*http://www.rtig.org.uk RTIG website *http://www.utmc.uk.com UTMC website *http://www.its-uk.org.uk ITS-UK *http://www.traveline.info/nextbuses.htm{{dead link, date=April 2018 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes Traveline NextBuses *https://web.archive.org/web/20120929225114/http://www.transportdirect.info/ Transport Direct *http://www.dft.gov.uk UK Department for Transport Public transport information systems Real-time computing Telematics Open data International standards