The county’s first solar powered bus display in Hitchin

We’ve installed the county’s first solar powered display screen at a bus shelter on Hermitage Road, in Hitchin.

Most of our display screens at bus shelters require a mains power source in order to operate, which prevents us installing screens at locations where no power supply is available. Stop A in Hermitage Road, Hitchin, is one such location. Whilst the other bus shelters and stops in Hitchin town centre have display screens, getting power to this particular site had always proved problematic.

To help find the solution to this ongoing problem, we partnered with 21st Century Passenger Systems who successfully developed a screen unit that can be powered using just solar panels. These panels, mounted on the roof of the shelter, provide sufficient energy to keep the screen powered up all day.

Derrick Ashley, Cabinet Member for Growth, Infrastructure, Planning and Economy said: “This is a great first for us as a county council. The advances in solar power technology has meant that we can now ensure our residents, who use this bus stop, can now be kept fully informed of their bus arrival time, in-line with the rest of the area. The use of solar power is also part of our commitment to work with partners on more sustainable solutions for a cleaner, greener county.”

We have been rolling out a programme of installing electronic display screens which show real-time bus departure information at bus stops and shelters across the county for the last 15 years. We now have circa. 300 screens at bus stops and shelters including at most bus and railway station interchanges. The provision of further display screens at bus stops across the county is one of the commitments we have made through the Intalink Enhanced Partnership, which is comprised mainly of HCC and the county’s bus operators.