Sydney, Oct 24 : After a year of trials, GPS-equipped buses will be on NSW roads early next year, the State Government has said.

Transport Minister John Watkins today announced a preferred tenderer had been selected to install the Public Transport Information and Priority System on a fleet of 1800 buses.

The onboard computer devices will link the buses by satellite to the Roads and Traffic Authority's traffic light control system, which will in turn give late-running buses the green light, providing commuters with a faster trip.

The technology will be used on 43 "strategic corridors" in and around Sydney.

Over the past year, three Sydney routes have been testing the technology, and Watkins said the NSW Government felt confident about rolling out the technology across the state.

"We've done extensive trials on this system that's been developed here, and all the reports back to the Government are that those trials have gone well," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Watkins, as saying.

Watkins said while the first buses would be on the road by early next year, all state buses would be equipped by the end of 2009, with the private bus fleet to follow by mid-2011.

"This is about using technology to get our buses running more smoothly, especially on those busiest routes," he said.

"If by doing so we can encourage more people back onto our buses, that means less congestion, it means a better trip for people using public transport, and that has to be the future in and around Sydney."

Watkins also said that in 18 months the Global Positioning System technology could also start to provide better passenger information to customers.

"With the information arising from the GPS locator on the bus, if we can get access to that we can tell individual customers where their bus is, when it will be at their bus stop," Watkins said.

"We're going to be developing over the next 18 months some better passenger information systems." (ANI)