Text service to end bus stop wait

If successful the scheme will be used across the region

A new service which gives bus passengers access to timetable information through a mobile phone is to be trialled in Norwich.

The two-month experiment will operate on the number 25 service - a key route around the city which stops at the university, hospital and train station.

Up until 15 November passengers will be able to request departure times for a particular bus stop by sending a text.

They will then receive details of all services for the next 18 hours.

Suffolk and Cambridgeshire are also testing the new system in Ipswich and Cambridge.

If successful, it could be introduced right across the region as early as next spring.

The 24-hour automated system works using code numbers on bus stops.

Passengers will be able to text the code to 84268 and receive back the departure times.

Adrian Gunson, of Norfolk County Council, said: "Many people are accustomed to using their mobile phone to obtain information and we hope this will prove successful."

The service is being introduced by the East Anglian branch of Traveline - a national organisation paid for by public transport operators and councils to provide travel information.