Transport for London

Traveled on the new Elizabeth line yet?

If you haven’t done so already, see if you can spot the new transit digital signage displays on the iconic Transport for London's Elizabeth line. The newly installed multi-display digital signage network provides valuable real-time transit information for thousands of travelers daily. This case study will take a look at how our digital signage technology was deployed and what kind of results we were able to achieve.

The Opportunity

The new Elizabeth line has been a long time in the making, but it's finally open to the public and is expected to allow more than 1.5 million to be closer to their places of work in the West End, Canary Wharf, and the City. TFL wanted a way to make the transition of the branding from the TfL Rail to the Elizabeth line easy and without any glitches. The project was a collaboration between Acquire Digital and Worldline to deliver the solution for Transport for London, to update the UI design and to the new Elizabeth line branding.

Our Solution

To help make things as smooth as possible for travelers, Acquire Digital created the live status screens at the stations along the line, using the industry-leading Acquire Editor software. Using a specifically modified version of Acquire’s digital signage messaging CMS, the screens are connected to several APIs to collect data from different train operating companies and TFL itself. The CMS then converts this data from the different providers into a standardized, uniform feed presented to the travelers entering the stations. The information is structured to allow people to quickly view and understand everything about the station and connections in their busy commutes. The digital displays are designed to provide travelers with this important information on travel statuses and really play a key part in helping to improve the overall passenger experience.

Outcomes

What about when all doesn’t go to plan? Using the specifically modified CMS that connects via several APIs to live data feeds, the system intelligently displays content on the screens using a combination of rules, and Transport for London (TFL) can promptly push real-time alerts and transit updates to any of the displays across the network efficiently. This truly helps keep travelers in the know in real-time. It can even minimize the impact of incidents if travelers can re-route accordingly before arriving at the bottleneck. Acquire Digital has also created onward travel screens for people leaving the station. These screens show local maps and live public transport information, whether by bus, taxi, or water taxi. Multi-modal transport information was an essential requirement for TFL, and Acquire Digital were pleased that they successfully incorporated it into the CMS with ease.

About the Elizabeth line

About the Elizabeth line: Crossrail Ltd.’s new railway was a much-anticipated addition to the transportation infrastructure of London. Spanning more than 100km, the railway will stop at 41 accessible stations (10 new) and is expected to serve up to 200 million people each year. The new railway will connect London's East End with its West End and provide links to Heathrow Airport and the London Underground network. In addition, the new railway will ease congestion on existing lines and provide greater capacity for future growth. This is an excellent use of technology, and it will be exciting to see how it helps improve the overall passenger traveling experience.