NEC Corporation has received an order from Modern Bus Company, Makkah, Saudi Arabia, for an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) to improve the performance of the city’s bus traffic. The system is scheduled to launch operations in 2020.
With each passing year, the number of pilgrims visiting Makkah continues to increase, and more than 2 million pilgrims from around the world participated in the city’s 5-day Hajj Pilgrimage in 2018. This number is expected to double over the next 15 years, making the development of public transportation essential for the successful completion of millions of pilgrimages, but also posing a challenge for the Saudi Arabian government.
NEC’s ITS helps to overcome this challenge by providing a wide range of innovative services, including an automated fare collection system, which utilizes IC cards to enable cashless, accurate and reliable fare collection for millions of travelers, as well as a bus location management system, which uses GPS to monitor the location of approximately 400 buses in real time, thereby supporting the successful implementation of scheduled operations. Moreover, bus information is provided to passengers through solar powered displays installed at bus stops and mobile applications.
“Together with Modern Bus Company, NEC aims to manage the operation of approximately 2,000 buses in Makkah within the next five years,” said Ryuji Nakagawa, General Manager, Transportation and Logistics Solutions Division, NEC Corporation. “NEC has a well-established record of providing Intelligent Transportation Systems throughout Asia, including Hong Kong, Singapore and India, and will continue to build partnerships globally in support of the development of safe, secure and efficient transportation infrastructure.”
