Guernsey Press

Free wi-fi now available on all 22 new buses

FREE wi-fi is now available on the fleet of new buses bought earlier this year.

Published
Free wi-fi is now available on all 22 of the buses bought this year.(18410901)

A secure wireless connection has been in operation on 12 vehicles on a trial basis in recent months, with more than 2,300 unique users taking advantage of the service.

Following that trial, it has now been rolled out to the remaining 10 buses bought as part of a phased re-fleeting strategy.

‘Travelling by bus has never been more convenient for a whole host of reasons, and the increases in passengers we’ve seen consistently in recent years attests to that,’ said Environment & Infrastructure president Deputy Barry Brehaut.

‘Introducing a free wi-fi service further increases that convenience for passengers.’

The States has partnered with Sure to provide the service.

Jason Fitton, from the telecommunications company, said: ‘Sure is pleased to provide this service to bus users in Guernsey and we hope that this is a further incentive to use the island’s bus network.

‘At Sure we want to be involved in projects that benefit the community and providing wi-fi on the island’s bus fleet does exactly that.’

After selecting the ‘Free Bus wi-fi’ network on buses that display a wi-fi symbol, users will reach a landing page detailing the settings that are in place.

Passengers can browse the internet, check emails, access social networking and shop online.

However, to provide a reasonable speed of service and protection for users, there are some usage restrictions in place.

The wi-fi service is available at the bus information centre in Town.

The monthly cost of the service is £50 per vehicle, which is approximately 1.2p per passenger journey or £13,200 a year.

It is being funded from the integrated transport strategy.