A Texting Tale
Who uses the texting service for London bus information? I am talking about the 5 digit number on bus stops, whereby if you text 87287 with that number, a message will be sent to your phone with times of buses arriving at that stop. Very useful you would think, and doubly so for people who only use their phones to text and make phone calls.However, it seems TfL have decided to phase out this service. I quote from a reply a friend of mine had from TfL “ Information about travel disruptions and timetables can usually be found on our website, on our Twitter page (@TfL) or online with our TfL Go app, which is available on iOS and Android phones. The TfL Go app includes features such as a “real-time map”, quieter times to travel, journey planning functionality and real-time bus arrival information. The Asset Operations team have informed us that a decision has been made by management to phase out SMS plates”.This is yet another policy which discriminates against people who do not have, and do not want, a smart phone. The digital divide strikes again.
Catherine Schade ● 952d1 Comments