Londres oferece Wi-Fi grátis em ônibus

A implementação projetos de internet sem fio é a "menina dos olhos" de muitas cidades. NA Inglaterra, o Reading Transport (Transporte da Leitura) está fornecendo acesso Wi-Fi grátis aos passageiros da linha de ônibus que opera do corredor do Vale do Tamisa ao oeste de Londres. O objetivo da iniciativa é que a internet móvel grátis traga mais passageiros para os ônibus dessa linha.

O Wi-Fi grátis também é uma maneira para que mais pessoas andem de ônibus e deixem os carros em casa. Assim, a cidade e a região ganham com a redução dos congestionamentos de tráfego e os indivíduos utilizam mais eficientemente seu tempo.

Outras companhias de transportes como a Stagecoach (Londres-Oxford) e a National Express (London-Cambridge) também já estão fornecendo o serviço de conexão de internet móvel grátis para atrair mais passageiros.

Abaixo trechos de uma matéria publicada no MuniWireless.

"The Reading Transport service runs between Reading town center and rail terminus to the Thames Valley Park at the east of the town, and UK headquarters of major international corporations including Microsoft, Silicon Graphics, and Oracle.

This reminds me of the Microsoft Wi-Fi bus service I wrote about a few weeks ago whose purpose is also to get people out of their cars and if they can do work on public transport, it makes this option more attractive. Reading Transport says they carry hundreds of commuters everyday and are looking for ways to enhance service.

According to the press release, "the Wi-Fi-enabled Thames Valley Park (TVP) buses run every ten minutes during peak periods including morning and evening commutes. Reading Transport, wholly owned by the local authority Reading Borough Council, has selected Vodafone UK as the mobile data service provider for the deployment, taking advantage of Vodafone's nextgeneration 3G network that utilizes HSDPA (High Speed Download Packet Access) for download speeds up to 3.6Mbps." ...

"Commuter routes are ideal for in-vehicle Wi-Fi services," said Jim Baker, Moovera CEO and founder. "With an increasing number of hand-held devices such as mobile phones and PDAs having Wi-Fi built-in, accessing the Internet to check your email, surf the web or update your blog is now easier than ever before. With free Wi-Fi access on the bus, TVP passengers in Reading can now make the most of their journey time to and from the office - at no cost to them. This really does represent another step towards the future of public transportation."