Montreal Commuters And Dispatchers Get Bus Info Via RFID
Featuring Pierre Malboeuf, president, Eminencia

Used with permission from RFID Journal, Inc.

Commuters using two newly built bus and subway transit terminals in the Montreal suburb of Laval won't need to worry about frostbite as they wait for busses during cold winters, thanks to an RFID-system deployed by the city's Agence Métropolitaine de Transport (Metropolitan Transport Agency).

RFID interrogators mounted on lampposts at terminal entrances read the unique ID numbers of passive EPC Gen 2 ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) tags attached to the busses (on a side window), then send the tag IDs, along with a timestamp of the read event, to a server inside each station. Every tag ID number is associated with its respective bus's route information in the agency's database. The server uses the RFID data to determine that a bus is approaching its designated terminal dock, and displays this information on digital screens within the terminal to alert commuters, giving them ample time to walk out to the dock and board the bus.

The system has been well received by Laval residents, says Pierre Malboeuf, president of Eminencia, the RFID systems integrator on the project and a presenter at last week's RFID Journal LIVE! Canada 2007 conference, where he explained the system to attendees. According to Malboeuf, some residents say they would not likely use bus services at the transit hubs—which also include subway stations offering service to Montreal—if not for the ability to wait for their buses inside the terminal rather than outside.