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Smart City Award for Intelligent Bus System in Skopje

Faced with increasing demand for modern civic services yet shrinking budgets, Macedonia’s capital city Skopje had to find new efficient ways to optimize its processes, cut down costs and provide better services for its citizens. Deutsche Telekom Group’s subsidiary Makedonski Telekom helps to lead the transformation of Skopje into a modern and smart city and recently won the WITSA Global ICT Excellence Award for its newly introduced smart bus solution.

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Symbol Intelligent Bus System in Skopje

Deutsche Telekom Group’s innovative and prized smart city solutions are now available in yet another European capital within its footprint: Makedonski Telekom, in partnership with Skopje Public Transport Company and the City of Skopje have successfully implemented an automatic bus vehicle location system as well as an automatic fare collection system for public buses. The combined solution enhances Skopje’s public transport by efficiently managing transport demand whilst reducing traffic jams and air pollution. Through its fast, transparent, and secure fare collection, it also significantly improves the service experience and safety for both citizens and tourists.

Convenient and high-quality travel

In fact, travelers in Skopje liked the new smart bus solutions so much that the city recorded over 2.5 million transactions in just 3 months. Busses are tracked in real-time and the bus timetables communicated to travelers accordingly, either via info-displays at the bus stops, SMS or Internet, thus reducing the time they need to spend at bus stops. It also offers easy payment options and promotes the use of electronic rather than paper tickets that end up thrown away on the streets.

Not only Skopje’s bus travelers are pleased, however. The city of Skopje also benefits from the newly implemented smart bus solution: there are significant fuel savings, due to transport route optimization and reduced bus delays, which not only cut costs but also lower air pollution. A further positive environmental aspect is the aforementioned replacement of paper tickets with electronic ones.

Smart City WITSA recognition for sustainable economic growth

In early October 2016, Makedonski Telekom’s smart bus solution won the prestigious Smart City project award from the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) in the category of Sustainable Growth Solution, highlighting its ability to improve the financial and social situation in Macedonia.

The innovative features within the implementation of the smart bus system build the basis for future smart city projects in Skopje. Macedonski Telekom and the City of Skopje currently consider numerous possibilities in terms of scalability, upgrade and customization options for other areas of urban life, including bicycle rentals, parking and fare collection for the city zoo, cinemas, amusement parks and the city cable car.

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