Those of you who realise there is life outside of traffic
signals and VMS displays may have heard of RTIG or the Real Time
Information Group! RTIG was established in 2000 to provide a focus
for all those involved in UK bus RTI. RTIG has a wide membership
drawn from UK local authorities, bus operators and system
suppliers, with representatives from Government and other key
industry groups. Members have to pay a mighty £1,400 per year for
2008/2009. So what does one get for this? Well RTIG outline a
series of benefits, mostly centred on
attending work shops and getting involved in the standard.
It looks like UTMC is going the same way with a formalised
membership for organisations. In principle I support this, there is
a ambitious business plan and I hope it does well. However there is
a sticking point, the price. £1,800 is a lot of money to ask a
small company to cough up. Sure for the large margin multi
nationals that dominate UTMC it is mere chicken feed but for a
small growing company, it is money that would otherwise be spent on
furthering the product.
Fortunately there is the opportunity to give feedback before the
final decision is made. I intend to put forward the concept of a
sliding scale of membership dependant on the size of company. This
would mean the large multi 'large margin' nationals can pay a more
representative slice of their revenue to be part of the industry,
whilst small business can continue to invest all monies in their
product and future. I urge all to do the same.
By the way, the closing deadline for comments is 10 October
2008.