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2006 April
One Small Step and One Big Strategy:
From Deficit to Profit
by applying IT to a Route Bus Business Model |
Eagle Bus recently acquired a Route Bus contract from a
major Bus Operator who could no longer operate this service due to a peristent
and growing deficit. In order to reverse this trend, Eagle Bus and Saitama University
jointly developed their Automatic Timetable System that uses a combination of
GPS (Global Positioning System) technology and passenger sensor data. Eagle Bus
began using this system from April 2006.
The aim of the system is to establish a profitable timetable using a database
containing daily ridership data, such as the number of the passengers, their boarding
times, their boarding and exit locations, etc.
Recently, many major bus companies have abandoned their city bus routes that operate
at a deficit. The President of Eagle Bus feels that a bus companies first and
foremost responsibility is to the community at large and that abandoning active
city bus routes is bad for the community, especially the elderly and those without
access to a car. Therefore, Eagle Bus will remain active in developing future
IT systems with the university to address this emerging problem. |
2005 June
Kawagoe - Haneda: Nonstop Bus Connection
Arrives In Time for
Early Morning Flights |
 A
new nonstop bus service from Kawagoe City to Haneda Airport is going to be launched
this July for passengers of early morning flights that has special benefits such
as discount fares and easy reservations.
The joint operators of the bus service are the following 3 companies: Seibu Bus
(Head office in Tokorozawa), Eagle Bus (Head office in Kawagoe) and Airport Transport
Service (Head office in Tokyo). From July 1, three Haneda-bound buses will be
available each morning for the route starting from the Seibu Linefs Hon-Kawagoe
Station via the west exit of Kawagoe Station to Haneda Airport, with four buses
traveling from Haneda to Kawagoe in the evening and night. |
2005 May
Kawagoe, the gLittle Edoh City, Strives to Attract Customers
Chartered
Bus Tour with an English-Speaking Guide: Easy Way of Sightseeing for Tourists
from Overseas |
 In
Kawagoe City, popular among tourists for its Edo atmosphere and called gLittle
Edoh, a new project is ongoing which makes sightseeing more convenient to tourists
from overseas. Now the city is aiming to be more international using new approaches
such as bus tours for overseas tourists and maps that adopt pictograms.
Eagle Bus (Head office in Kawagoe City, President Mr. Masaru Yajima) has just
released its gLittle Edo Tourh, a new bus tour within the city specifically
designed for foreign tourists. In April last year, they set up a project team
composed of 6 members including a foreign person living in Kawagoe to develop
the tour plan and to find a market for it as an option of Japan-tour packages
which travel agencies and hotels offer. The plan provides a midi-bus that starts
from and returns to Tokyo and visits famous tourist points in Kawagoe City such
as the City Museum, Kashi-ya Yokocho (Confectionerfs Row), Kurano-Machi (Traditional
Merchant Houses), Kitain Temple and Toki-no-Kane (The Bell of Time). |
2005 May
Try a Virtual Onsen Tour |
Emedica (Head office in Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture, President Mr. Masaru
Yajima), which provides nursing care services as a group member of Eagle Bus,
will launch a new attraction in their service facility to simulate famous onsen
(hot springs) and sightseeing resorts in Japan. The plan starts with Kusatsu Onsen
of Gunma Prefecture on May 19 and 20, and will present a Yumomi (water stirring)
show etc. in which visitors will feel as if they were traveling.
The venue for this virtual tour is Soleil (Kawagoe City: Photo), a day service
facility run by Emedica. For the Kusatsu Onsen virtual tour, Ryokan (traditional
Japanese hotel) style Noren (short split curtains) which will be hung at the entrance
and Kimono-clad staff will simulate the Onsen atmosphere. |
2002 April
Real time bus location information system |
This system delivers real time bus route information to passengers, enabling them
to know exactly when their buses will arrive. The system, known as the "CO-EDO"
(little Edo) system is based upon GPS satellite updates. The location of each
bus is tracked via the GPS satellite system by means of a receiver installed on
each bus, then relayed by packet communication to the CO-EDO system information
center, then to the mobile WEB, and finally to the Internet. Users can obtain
real time information for approaching buses by selecting the name of a specific
bus stop, the arrival time, the minutes of notice before the arrival time, etc.
The system was developed over a one-and-a-half year long joint research project
with Saitama University.
Users of this service are freed from the typical waiting times at bus stops and
can enjoy their sightseeing or shopping up to the last minute prior to the bus's
arrival. |
2001 May
Introduction of Eagle's Diesel Exhaust Purification Facility |
With this system, black smoke particulate emissions can be reduced by up to 98%
and nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 65% compared to buses without this facility.
This emissions performance level has already cleared the requirements of the 2005
emission controls stipulated by the Japanese government. For Eagle Bus, the deployment
of this system has important social impetus: Eagle wants to preserve the environment
of Kawagoe, an historic city known as KO-EDO (little EDO), where Eagle buses regularly
run and the city we call home. |
2001 October
Development of a mobile bathing service system for wheel chair users |
Eagle has designed a van that includes a system composed of a specially made wheel
chair with a detachable sheat and bath unit into which an elderly wheel chair
user can be directly slipped. The system also includes a movable cabin for use
as a dressing room. In conventional visiting van services, helpers often hurt
themselves while assisting customers or while maintaining a crouching posture
during bathing. The system was developed with an eye to how the helper's burden
can be eased in providing the bathing service. Patents are pending for our special
wheel chair and cabin. |
2000 October
A new hearing aid for hard of hearing passengers |
A special sightseeing bus, the "Universal 2nd" (Eagle designed), has
a new hearing aid system installed. If a conventional type hearing aid is used
on a running bus, it is hard to distinguish the voice of the tour guide or the
TV from operating noises such as engine noise, because these noises are also amplified
by the hearing aid. Universal 2nd is equipped with a magnetic induction loop antenna
inside the bus, which picks up and sends the selected sounds to a newly developed
hearing aid wirelessly. Karaoke sounds from speakers which are difficult to listen
to can now be heard clearly with the new hearing aid. |
2000 June
First deployment of a wheelchair-loading bus system in Japan |
It looks just like an ordinary bus from the exterior as well as from the interior,
but this bus can accommodate up to 10 wheelchair users by merely detaching the
normal chairs. On the floor of the bus, there are 4 pairs of rails running the
length of the bus, one on the right side and another on the left side. Up to 10
wheelchairs or normal seats can be detached or attached to these rails, but casual
passengers can't see the rails as they are covered by carpet. This innovative
wheelchair fixation scheme has also cleared the international safety standards
(ISO), another first in Japan. The system satisfies the requirements of the Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA), which is going to be applied in Japan in the near
future.
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