Buses move faster thanks to smart traffic light control

The buses can control all traffic lights in the city via radio and register themselves. Depending on the traffic light phase, a traffic light then stays green a little longer, for example, if it is known that a bus is about to arrive at the junction, or a red light turns green a few seconds earlier so that the bus does not have to slow down.

"Optimizing the traffic lights helps passengers get to their destination faster and makes bus travel in the city more attractive," says Mayor and Head of Mobility Sabine Groß. "In a city like Offenbach, which is located in the middle of a conurbation, we would have considerable problems without public transport. This is shown by the number of passengers transported: in the first half of 2024, around 1.2 million passengers a month were transported on our buses. It is therefore important to make public transport attractive. At the bus traffic lights at the junction of Waldstrasse and Feldstrasse, for example, buses often used to stand for over a minute - now they hardly stand there at all."

"We also get a lot of positive feedback from the drivers. The shorter waiting times at the traffic lights help to ensure that timetables can be better adhered to. The waiting time at the special signals in the urban area has been significantly reduced. This results in significant time savings over a complete cycle," says Anja Georgi, Managing Director of the Stadtwerke's Geschäftsfeld Mobilität division. "The optimized traffic light control also reduces the electricity and diesel consumption of the buses."

How long a bus now waits at traffic lights in the city depends on many factors. In addition to the traffic light phase in which a bus reaches a junction, it also plays a role, for example, whether buses are approaching the junction from several directions. "You can't imagine a bus approaching a traffic light and it immediately turning green. That would lead to traffic chaos. There is a complex system behind the traffic light control," explains Yoel Elias, Head of Operations at Stadtwerke Offenbacher Verkehrsbetriebe (OVB).