Travelers Enjoy Wi-Fi Services Riding BizkaiBus

Background

BizkaiBus, as the largest bus company in Northern Spain, operates over 100 bus lines, connecting all bus stops between Bilbao and the province of Biscay. More than 30 million people use BizkaiBus travel services every year. 

Challenges

Although BizkaiBus is leading in the public transportation industry in Spain, the company faces challenges in maintaining its leading edge and adding more bus routes. A bus company rarely stands out for its hardware or facilities since most companies have similar setups. BizkaiBus takes a new approach by increasing its “soft power”.

The company sets up its onboard network Wi-Fi services to attract more satisfied riders and increase tourism.

Solution

Increasing “Soft Power” Inspires Popular Tourist-Friendly Services

Bilbao is renowned for its tourism and attracts millions of visitors from all over the world every year. BizkaiBus deploys in-bus Wi-Fi networks and provides passengers with services such as bus line queries, map, fare searches, and introductory videos of famous local scenic spots. By watching the videos prepared by BizkaiBus, tourists become inspired about places they like to visit for sightseeing. After they determine a destination, they can directly search for and purchase tickets, or find a best travel route by using the professional map service. These friendly services provided by BizkaiBus have received positive remarks from tourists on social media. 

Onboard bus Wi-Fi services help BizkaiBus earn a good reputation, and also create new business opportunities. For example, with adequate Wi-Fi networks, BizkaiBus can develop and provision more value-added services such as video streaming and advertising, in order to generate more revenue. 

High-Performance Networks Ensure High-Quality Services

BizkaiBus collaborates with Huawei to build Wi-Fi networks onboard its buses; Huawei AR511 series agile gateways play an important role. 

The AR511 routers have been successfully deployed on Wi-Fi networks on tens of millions of buses in China by VisionChina Media, China’s largest out-of-home digital television advertising operator.

The following are unique features of AR511 gateways which attract customers like BizkaiBus:

• Dual-frequency Wi-Fi and storage of large data quantities enable various in-bus LAN services. Each AR511 supports 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi frequencies and allows a large number of smart terminals for connectivity. 
• Dual 4G uplink channels ensure high-speed network access. The AR511 supports high-speed 4G/LTE networks to allow multiple passengers to simultaneously access the Internet. The routers can also flexibly switch between 3G and 4G networks to ensure uninterrupted network access with optimal user experience. 
• Open service platform allows customized services. With the AR511’s open service platform, bus companies and media content providers can customize portal pages and apps to offer differentiated services. 

Benefits

Bus travelers from China to Spain enjoy the variety of onboard services while riding on buses line BizkaiBus, where AR511 agile gateways provide riders with high-quality network services and more enjoyable travel experiences.

The large-capacity built-in storage media now stores many resources, including texts, images, videos, and applications. Further, services will not be interrupted even if the Internet connection drops.

Moreover, Big Data analysis improves service customization. Based on Big Data analysis, operators can learn which websites are visited the most by passengers and push content to visitors which may be of interest and improve the popularity of services.

Finally, the solution enables future business growth by creating new revenue streams from easily added new services for passengers riding network-enabled buses.