Would You Touch A Touchscreen Bus Stop?


It sounds like a very cool idea on first glance; touchscreen, NFC-enabled advertising in public places. Think, however, about what people do to bus stops on a daily basis. Would you really want to interact with one without gloves on?

We already knew that local advertising was watching what we were doing. Now The Australian reports on the efforts of JCDecaux in the outdoors advertising space, where they’re trialling touchscreen LCD displays for bus stops, as well as NFC-enabled promotions. There’s an obvious snag here for most smartphone users, as precious few NFC phones have actually made it to Australian shores, and some of those had their NFC bits neutered before launching. You won’t see too many of these to start with in any case; the article notes that a eight panels will be rolled out in Sydney, three in Brisbane and “a couple” in Melbourne.

Interactive advertising sounds like a great idea for passing the time while waiting for that bus that never comes, but I’ve got to admit to being a bit squeamish about the concept of touching a bus stop, given what can go on in bus stops on a daily basis. There is a bright spot in the story for mild mysophobes such as me, however; the story notes that they’re working on Kinect enabled advertising as well. [The Australian]


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