Bratislava public transport company extends free wi-fi in its vehicles

Using public transport in Bratislava is getting more comfortable and the Bratislava Transport Company (DPB) is continuing this trend with the extension of free wi-fi in its vehicles. It is installing free wi-fi in 50 buses and 60 new trams. Simultaneously the newly supplied 90 buses and 18 electric buses are already equipped with wi-fi by the supplier. Thus 266 vehicles, accounting for almost half of the DPB’s fleet, will shortly offer free access to the internet. The vehicles with free wi-fi are marked with a label.

“This is a unique step for the whole region and Bratislava has outpaced the cities with whom it traditionally competes,” said Bratislava Mayor Ivo Nesrovnal, as cited by the Sme daily. “Prague, Vienna and Budapest do not have such a high number of public transport vehicles equipped with free internet.”

(source: Courtesy of Bratislava City Council)

So far, the DPB has installed the technology in 48 buses to test it. Results have shown that the interest of passengers is high with about 390,000 people using it monthly.

The DPB plans to continue installing free wi-fi in other buses and trams. Trolleybuses will remain without this service for now as some technical difficulties must be solved first.

The wi-fi connection offers high speed of 20 Mb/s with unlimited data but as the instructions read, the connection is interrupted every 15 minutes. After the interruption the passenger can again connect for free.

Nesrovnal observed that the city pursues the principle that private companies should also contribute to the modernisation and operation of the city. In this case, the costs are covered by the private advertising company Recar.