Prague Will Have a Unified Public Transport Information System

A significant component of public transportation systems is information itself, which is actually the main source that facilitates people in accessing such services.

As urban cities thrive toward creating more modern, easily accessible, and better transportation services, the urge to convey information on such services more effectively is becoming a necessary aspect to maintain and improve the functionality of public transportation means i.e. buses, metro, trams, etc. and beyond that, is its high potential to affect a country’s economic activity and growth.

In the coming months, Prague City will announce an international graphic design competition for a unified public transport information and orientation system.

Compared to the current one, it should provide clearer and more modern instructions for moving around the city, especially between the various types of public transport.

The new system will consist of pictograms, LCD screens in buses, trams and departure panels at stops. “Currently, we have counted eight different information systems in the metropolis, each with its own administrator – for example, in the metro, and in the streets of different city districts,” said Adam Scheinherr, Prague’s Deputy Mayor for Transport.

“The new system will be clearer for travelers and potentially cheaper for public budgets,” added Scheinherr.

The new system will be coordinated with large infrastructure projects such as Terminal Smíchov, metro D, new tram lines or railways to the airport.

Among other things, Scheinherr thinks that the plan will attract more foreigners to surface transport. For the time being, tourists in Prague mainly use the metro, and one of the reasons may be a problem with orientation in the transport system.