Timetable planning in Hebrew

IVU systems modernise public transport in Jerusalem

Every year, millions of tourists, pilgrims, and business visitors are attracted to Jerusalem. Famous for its religious diversity and the historical buildings of the old quarters, it is the largest city of the region with a total of nearly 800,000 residents, and is also an important commercial location. The tourism sector is the largest source of income, and this is promoted by investments in modern infrastructure developments. In order to provide more convenient and faster connections between the city’s sights, the Jerusalem Transportation Master plan Team (JTMT) decided in early 2011 to introduce the scheduling and passenger information systems of the IVU.suite. The decision in favour of the German software house IVU Traffic Technologies AG was taken after an international call for tenders. The introduction was successfully concluded only a few months later. Further modules are currently in the implementation phase.

Since June 2011 the systems of the IVU.suite have been in operation to plan and optimise up to 6,500 trips on 154 lines for some 1,000 buses and 42 trams. The situation in Jerusalem makes it necessary to take various language demands into consideration as well as special planning requirements. Especially for Jerusalem, the software engineers of IVU have combined English-language input masks with Hebrew characters, which are read and written from right to left.

A further challenge arose from the special needs of the religious visitors. For example, the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian holy sites must be correspondingly linked by lines. In order for the completed timetables to be transferred from the Ministry to the private operators and the passenger information service, interfaces have been created which allow the exchange of information in Hebrew, Arabic, and English.

After the successful completion of the initial project, JTMT placed orders for further modules of the IVU.suite in the summer of 2011. Measures are currently in progress to implement the geographical information system IVU.plan.map alongside the timetable planning of IVU.plan. In addition, it shall also be possible to access the passenger information from IVU.journey on smartphones using new apps for Apple and Android systems. Furthermore, it is planned to extend the timetable planning to include East Jerusalem, which will involve handling information in Arabic. By the spring of 2012, IVU.systems will additionally be carrying out duty scheduling, fleet management, performance monitoring and settlement.

"The Jerusalem transport system is going through major changes," says Nadav Meroz, general manager of Jerusalem Transportation Master plan Team. "A key step is the implementation of various cutting edge information technologies. In such a complex city as Jerusalem, a passenger information system is a significant tool which enables the public to adapt to the changes and improve public transport usage. The IVU.suite was carefully selected to meet these needs and we are looking forward for further applications".

IVU Traffic Technologies AG has been working for more than thirty years with some 300 engineers to ensure that transport in the world’s major cities operates reliably and on time. People and vehicles in expanding cities are continually on the move – a logistical challenge which calls for intelligent and reliable software systems. The standardised software products of the IVU.suite and tailor-made IT solutions are used to plan, optimise and control the scheduling of vehicle fleets and personnel, support the choice of branch locations and ensure that election results are determined correctly.

IVU. Systems for vibrant cities.

Madlen Dietrich
Corporate Communications
IVU Traffic Technologies AG
Bundesallee 88, 12161 Berlin
Germany
Tel: +49 30 85906-0
E-mail: Madlen.Dietrich(at)ivu.de
www.ivu.de

This release was published on openPR.