Oakham, the county town of Rutland, has recently built a new bus station and decided on further rewarding its travellers with provision of free WiFi. The solution is provided by Nick Viney of Millennium Ltd, with funding from Rutland County Council. It was decided that the installation would utilise TP-LINK routers and Purple WiFi as a guest WiFi system with social login.
A well connected town
Oakham is an impressive traditional English market town absolutely bursting with heritage. Oakham town houses Rutland County Museum, Oakham Castle, the popular Market Place and Oakham School, a highly regarded public school that’s educated its share of famous pupils. Model rail enthusiasts are able to admire Oakham Signal Box, used by Airfix as a model template. Oakham also offers a stylish dining experience from tea bars to quality restaurants for its population of 10,000 residents and for the many visitors each year who flock to admire this beautiful classic town.
Residents are proud of the new Oakham bus station
Oakham bus station was officially declared open on 7th May 2014 by 102 year old Oakham resident Tommy Suthern, who remarkably still uses the transport system regularly. The newly constructed indoor waiting area (with WiFi connection of course) has enabled a more comfortable start to journeys and a wealth of while-you-wait information for passengers. This is great news for passengers, who make an estimated 150,000 journeys around Rutland each year.
Leader of Rutland County Council, Councillor Roger Begy, added: “There has been a great sense of anticipation in recent months as the new bus station has taken shape. I would like to thank the small team at the council who have co-ordinated the project from start to finish. Not only have they delivered the new bus station on time, but their careful management and attention to detail has ensured that we have spent £150,000 less than originally planned.”
WiFi provision at the station
The new bus station comes equipped with cutting edge technology in the form of free WiFi, transforming the passenger experience. As well as enjoying the free WiFi to make waiting times less tedious, passengers can access useful travel updates and real-time bus information. The WiFi also supports a live feed of current train times from Oakham Railway station via a screen into Oakham Bus station.
How did Millennium Ltd make it possible?
A good understanding of the bus station’s needs with regards to the WiFi provision were discussed in an initial brief with Rutland County Council, who funded the project. Millennium Ltd took great care at each stage of the planning and installation process, updating the council regularly to ensure they were working within their guidelines.
A particular challenge with this project was that the road had to be dug up for the BT lines to be installed and connected. On the technical side, Millennium Ltd had to set up the link between the timelines of the router and the live train timetable feed from Oakham station. All this was made possible by installing high quality TP-LINK equipment, effective communication between all parties and Millennium Ltd’s expert coordination of efforts with the aid of a project plan. Millennium Ltd ensured that solutions ran smoothly by having the right technical expertise at each point of the project.
Why Purple WiFi?
Rebecca Shepherd, Marketing Coordinator at Millennium Ltd, commented: “Purple WiFi was the obvious choice because it provided an all in one solution, from both content filtering and legislative perspectives. Millennium Ltd could also provide a Purple WiFi link, giving travellers waiting for a bus simple access to the Internet by liking Millennium Ltd’s Facebook page. Feedback so far on this quick and seamless login process has been phenomenal, with Facebook likes going up 50% so far.”