Passenger information and management system

Passenger information and management system (FIMS) is the name of a computer-based operations control system (RBL; new term: Intermodal Transport Control System ITCS) of the Hamburger Hochbahn AG (HHA) for dynamic passenger information (DFI) in the operation of their buses of the local public transport in Hamburg .

introduction

The FIMS was developed and supplied by Trapeze ( Neuhausen am Rheinfall , Switzerland ).

As a pilot project , the system was tested from 2001 to 2003 on Metrobus line 6 as FIMS analog. By December 2003 all articulated buses and in March and April 2004 all express buses were equipped with FIMS analog .

In autumn 2004 the company went one step further and started the pilot project FIMS Digital . In the southern Elbe area, all cars were therefore equipped with the new FIMS and tests were carried out to determine how the digital radio works. The test was positive.

All buses belonging to the depots Harburg (H), Langenfelde (L), Mesterkamp in Barmbek (M), Wendemuthstraße in Wandsbek (W) and Hummelsbüttel (G) were therefore converted by August 2006 and then all buses of the Subsidiary Jasper.

functionality

The on-board computers in the HHA buses equipped with FIMS are connected to central computers in the control center via a wireless LAN . From there they receive data on the route and the timetable . With the help of a GPS receiver in the vehicle , the on-board computer can also determine its actual location. By comparing the planned position with the actual position, the on-board computer determines whether the bus is keeping to the timetable or whether it is too early or too late.

This data is shown to the driver on a display together with the remaining route . The next stop and possible transfer options to other means of transport are automatically shown to the passengers in the bus via illuminated displays in the passenger compartment and announced from a digitally stored voice recording over the loudspeaker . The passengers do not find out whether the bus adheres to the timetable.

The vehicle's on-board computer transmits its location and timetable deviation to the bus control center by radio. From this, this calculates the expected departure times of the bus at the stops that it is supposed to stop at . It transmits these times by radio to electronic display boards that are set up at the stops.

The employees of the control center can follow the position of all buses used on screens . In the event of a malfunction, the control center can intervene in operations (e.g. set up a diversion ) and inform passengers about this. It can also monitor connections and instruct the drivers of the buses concerned to wait for passengers from subway trains and other bus routes.

The switching of some traffic lights in Hamburg can also be influenced by FIMS. If a bus approaches such a traffic light, the on-board computer reports this to your control computer, which can switch the light signal for the bus to green. This does not affect the common practice among bus drivers to wait for the next red phase of the traffic light behind it before leaving a bus stop.

Transmission technology

The buses and the DFI masts were equipped with digital transmission technology for radio communication with the control center . All stops are always announced in cars with digital radio.

The FIMS of the HHA and the corresponding passenger information system of the VHH can only communicate with each other to a limited extent due to the separation of the radio networks of the two bus companies. One of the companies is in charge of equipping stops where lines of several transport companies stop with DFI display boards. At the stops equipped by the VHH, such as B. Glashütte Markt , for a time only their own lines were displayed, but not those of the HHA. At the stops equipped by the HHA, such as U Wandsbek Markt , there were also problems at times. In the meantime, all lines that serve a stop are usually displayed. This is even made possible with a countdown (real time). This is only possible if the car is equipped with an appropriate system for passenger information. This is not the case with the KVG . Therefore, these lines are not displayed at all or only with a scheduled departure time (target departure time).

Problems

The FIMS suffered from problems for a long time, because with the DFI masts of the HHA only the lines operated by the HHA could be displayed. For example, only lines 9 and 562 could be displayed at departure area C at Rahlstedt station, as these are "elevated railway lines".

This problem has now been resolved and all lines are displayed that are served by cars with FIMS (HHA) or RBL (VHH). In both cases, the departure of the next bus is shown in the countdown (see above). However, if a line is operated by a bus from another company (example from Dahmetal on HHA line 164 as a subcontractor for VHH), only the "target travel time" is displayed.

There are also problems with erecting the DFI masts. Many stops in the city center, but also some that are not in the city center (e.g. Eppendorf, Markt) are on so-called “stop islands”. In such areas, the buses have their own areas on the streets where only buses are allowed to run, so the stops are also on "islands". However, this has the disadvantage that the stop platforms are very small, which is also the reason why DFI masts are difficult to set up here. This also applies to the Eppendorfer Markt, which is why the erection of the planned 8-line DFI masts was not possible for a long time.

Stop announcements

past

In the buses, the next stop and possible transfer options to other means of transport are automatically announced to passengers from digitally stored voice files over loudspeakers. On the occasion of the Soccer World Cup 2006 , the announcements of many important stops were also recorded in English .

Most of the announcement texts were spoken by Ingo Ruff , a former employee of Deutsche Bahn AG , from Berlin . There are also other speakers whose identity is not known. In cooperation with the television station SuperRTL , public transport companies had children announce some stops. The children's voices were heard at the HHA from March 2006 to the beginning of June 2006 in the buses and from March 2006 to mid-July 2006 in the underground vehicles; some of the English announcements were also made by children. Since these announcements were very popular with many passengers, the HHA decided to keep them and the children's announcements sounded again in the Hamburg buses and subway cars. Due to the new recordings of the stop announcements on the occasion of the line swap of the U2 and U3, the announcements made by children were discontinued at the beginning of 2009. The VHH-PVG group of companies also use children's voices to announce stops.

present

From around the beginning to mid-2010 Ingo Ruff was replaced on the HHA bus routes by a voice from a text-to-speech program . This also enables short-term diversions and closures to be announced uniformly. English announcements and special announcements are still recorded by people in advance.

Scoreboards at the stops

FIMS scoreboard

Combination of several FIMS display boards at the Wandsbek-Markt bus station

At many stops that are included in the FIMS, there are electronic display boards that show the next departures with the line name, destination and the estimated time until departure. Because most of these boards, which are used for dynamic passenger information (abbreviated: DFI ), are attached to masts, they are also referred to as “DFI masts” pars pro toto .

Locations

Such DFI masts were initially set up at the following stops:

all stops in the city center and HafenCity except for Ferdinandstor, U Stephansplatz line 112, Magellan-Terrassen, Auf dem Sande (Speicherstadt), Osakaallee, Am Dalmannkai, Singaporestrasse, Magellan-Terrassen
on the bus facilities: U Wandsbek Markt, S Poppenbüttel, U / S Barmbek, Rahlstedt station, U Billstedt, U Niendorf Markt, Harburg station, S Neugraben, U Burgstraße, S Veddel, S Wilhelmsburg, Altona station
at almost all stops on line 6 (pilot line)
Wandsbek / Rahlstedt area: Rahlstedt station, Jenfeld-Zentrum, Berliner Platz, Hasselbrook station, Potsdamer Strasse, Wilhelmstift children's hospital, Am Hegen (soon) Rodigallee (east), AK Wandsbek , Ölmühlenweg, Wandsbeker Strasse, U Wandsbek-Gartenstadt
Farmsen / Bramfeld / Barmbek area: Rahlstedter Weg (center), U Farmsen, Herthastraße, Steilshooper Allee, Bramfeld Dorfplatz, César-Klein-Ring, Hermann-Kauffmann-Straße, Hartzloh, AK Barmbek , U / S Barmbek, Langenfort
Hamburg-Mitte area: U Billstedt, U Horner Rennbahn, U Burgstrasse, U / S Berliner Tor, city center (see above), Davidstrasse, U St. Pauli, U Schlump, U Wartenau, Großer Burstah
Hamburg-North area: U Fuhlsbüttel, S Rübenkamp, U Alsterdorf, S Hamburg Airport, S Poppenbüttel, Lufthansa base, U / S Ohlsdorf main entrance, U Osterstraße, Böttgerstraße, AEZ, U Lattenkamp, U Langenhorn-Markt
Altona / Hoheluft / Lokstedt / Niendorf area: U Hoheluftbrücke, Gärtnerstraße, Siemersplatz, Veilchenweg, Eppendorfer Weg (east), Richtstraße, S Holstenstraße, Teufelsbrück ferry, Neumühlen / Övelgönne
Eppendorf / Winterhude / Uhlenhorst area: Eppendorf Markt, U Kellinghusenstraße, U Hudtwalckerstraße, U Sierichstraße, Beethovenstraße, U Mundsburg, Mundsburger Brücke, Schulweg, UK Eppendorf
Hamburg-Süd area: Harburg station, S Harburg-Rathaus, Harburger Ring, Moorstrasse, Freudenthalweg, Winsener Strasse (north), Kirchdorf (south), S Veddel, S Wilhelmsburg, Vogelhüttendeich, Stübenplatz, Mannesallee, Veringstrasse (center), Adolf Crowd place, S Neugraben

The display boards on the U Wandsbek Markt bus system and in the city center were subsequently equipped with digital transmission technology in order to be able to display the actual departure times of all lines. There were already DFI masts there before the analog system was replaced by the digital one. At the bus stops in the city center, some of the four-line display boards have been replaced with eight-line ones (e.g. Gerhart-Hauptmann-Platz).

The DFI masts in the west of Hamburg are operated by VHH (e.g. Eidelstedter Platz, EEZ)