A small East Midlands bus company is one of the first in the UK to use a satellite-based text message service to alert passengers.

Kinchbus in Loughborough, Leicestershire, owned by Barton Buses, will offer the service to people who want to know exactly when the next bus will arrive.

Sarah Taylor, of Kinchbus, said: "Passengers can check when their bus is due with their mobile phone, leaving just enough time to get to the bus stop."

The text messaging service is being pioneered in partnership with Leicester City Council and Leicestershire County Council.

Satellite receivers

Keith Shayshutt, Kinchbus managing director, said: "We're told that we're the first bus company in Britain to offer this service to passengers.

"Others offer timetables by text message, but we're the first to give people 'real' arrival times by using the satellite receivers that are installed on many of our buses."

The alert system will be rolled out on the first route on Wednesday.

Passengers access the service by keying the six letters on each of the 70 bus stops on the five-mile route into their mobile phone and sending it to a message centre.

Within 30 seconds the actual arrival time of the next bus is relayed to them.

The cost to the customer is the usual price of a text message - roughly 12p.