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The WiFi bus to school - with Playstation too!

A bus ride to school has suddenly become a much more hi-tech affair for some lucky Birmingham pupils. A local bus firm just rolled out double-decker Wi-Fi, and has also launched an RFID ticket trial.

The Big Green Bus Company, which runs school bus services, now offers free Wi-Fi access on all its 23 routes in Birmingham, following a smaller launch that started last year.

Young’uns equipped with iPhones, PSPs and netbooks with 3G dongles will get download speeds in excess of 2Mb/s, the company claimed.

'The bus broke down' won’t be a good enough excuse for being late to first period maths, either. Because the buses are also equipped with GPS transmission equipment, allowing teachers to check up on a bus' progress in real time through Google Maps.

"We want to make the experience of travelling with us a positive one for the new generation of tech-savvy school children," said Ian Mack, Managing Director at The Green Bus. "With an increasing number of mobile phones and handhelds supporting Wi-Fi, our investment in Icomera's Moovbox enables students to check email, surf the web, and play peer-to-peer games on devices like the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS – all free of charge.

Dave Palmer, Senior VP of Worldwide Sales at Icomera, the company behind the bus firm’s Moovbox Wi-Fi and GPS rollout, said the technology “sets a new standard for other school bus service providers to follow”.

Over the next academic year, The Big Green Bus Company will also trial RFID bus passes. It hopes the trial will improve safety and security of its bus services. ®