Stagecoach launches new smartphone "Busy Bus" indicator to help customers plan journeys

STAGECOACH, Britain's biggest Bus and Coach operator, is launching a new smartphone:- "Busy Bus" indicator to help customers plan their journeys as services increase across the country. The new feature on the Stagecoach Bus App will use extensive data and artificial intelligence to provide a traffic light indicator to help customers choose quieter services and maintain social distancing. The app is now being rolled out to iOS and android users and is planned to be fully in place, by 18 June 2020, via the app store and Google Play platforms. The "Busy Bus" tracker will provide a regularly updated guide to how busy individual bus services are in networks across the UK. It is part of a comprehensive package of safety measures in place to help people travel in confidence as the economy and daily life reopens at different speeds across England, Scotland and Wales.Each service in the live map on the app will be colour coded, with quieter buses showing in a green bus icon indicating:- 'not too busy,' through to amber 'quite busy' and dark amber:- 'very busy.' Customers can also see where their bus is on the map and when it will be arriving, providing all the information they need at their fingertips. Stagecoach's App already has the UK's most advanced real time bus tracker and this latest development will help people to confidently and easily plan when they want to travel. The new feature is the latest addition in an extensive range of measures by Stagecoach to help customers feel confident in using buses as they continue to provide a vital link to work, retail and leisure facilities.  Stagecoach is continuing to increase capacity on bus services to support social distancing. Strict cleaning regimes continue for all buses, which includes at least a daily clean of all buses with an anti viral sanitiser. Contactless payment is also available on all buses. The latest UK Government advice states that everybody travelling on public transport from 15 June 2020, must wear a face covering. Stagecoach's guide on how to travel safely and comfortably can be found at:- StagecoachBus.Com.

Carla Stockton-Jones, Interim Managing Director UK for Stagecoach, said:- "We are pleased to be welcoming more people back onto our buses as things start to open up around the country. We have already put a range of extra measures in place to make sure our customers feel confident in using our services, including strict cleaning regimes and social distancing measures, which we know are the biggest priorities for travellers. The launch of our new Busy Bus indicator is an extra step to give people an easy, at a glance guide on the best times to travel and to plan their journeys to avoid busier times. Buses continue to play a vital role in connecting people with work and leisure facilities. At a time when people across the country are starting to be reunited with friends and family, this investment in new technology will help to ensure that people can be completely prepared and confident in using our services."

The Stagecoach app is available on both the UK Bus iOS and Android platforms. For more information about Stagecoach, visit:- StagecoachBus.com/Coronavirus.

Black Lives Matter - Southport
Report and photos by Sam P Jalloh.

MY name is Sam P Jalloh, I'm an International sporting personality and Author, who lives in Southport. I have been asked to do a report for Southport Reporter, as I went down to the Black Lives Matter protest on lord street, Southport, Merseyside, on Saturday, 13 June 2020, that ran from 3pm to 5pm.

The protest lasted about 3 hours. It was a peaceful protest with many local speakers voicing their opinion and advice on the BLM. There were about few hundred people during the protest in front of the Town Hall, on Lord Street, within the small English seaside resorts Town Centre.

On the other side by the monument were the far right movement protecting the monument and show their presence. But thanks to the fantastic work by Merseyside Police who kept everything under control, and I was pleased to be their with my twin daughters to witness the peaceful protest.

My take on Racism: As an African this is something I've come to terms with that there are some people who will hate others just for their skin colour. I have had that experience here in once when my daughters were only a year old pushing them on their twin pram on a sunny weekend, where I live towards the Town Centre, and a gentleman was cycling past me. I smile and greeted him, and his reply was' just:- "go back home!" But I smiled to him and kept walking.

October 2019, I was in Florida, with an American tennis player, on tour, and we were in Florida for a week training before heading to Atlanta. So our 1st day of training we went to train at the (so call) black neighbourhood for 2½ hours, no problem. We were welcome and we had great time. Following day we went to a (so call) white neighbourhood, and within ½ an hour in to the training the park rangers were called. And I and my player were ask to leave because a privileged (white) family had called them to say I basically should leave. So we left.

So we left in shocked, but all I can do is not let that bothers me. So there is racism everywhere you go, but in other for this to improve I think Governments around the world needs to emphasise on more education about the contributions made to the development of many countries around the world by African people, in terms of:- education, music, sports, culture, NHS, tax, train, buses and taxi drivers, infrastructure and many more.

What trigger all the protest around the world by the death of George Floyd, in The US by Police brutality is just 1 of many that continues to happen for many decades. But there are some great signs of hope that all people from different culture and ethnicities are now coming together as 1 human family.

Racial discrimination and social injustice is a very tough thing for anyone to deal with. And I believe our Governments can help change this by educating global citizens about the importance of treating others like human beings with love, care and respect regardless of the skin colour. And the cries of African people around the world for equality and end to racial discrimination has gone on for centuries. And I believe we can all come together and do more to make this world a better place for each and every mankind.

Please do email us your thoughts and views on this to:- News24@SouthportReporter.Com. Sam's book:- "How Tennis Save My Life" can be bought via any good book shop. We will have signed copies available on here, very soon, as well!