Case Study: Transport for London achieves real-time operational insights and improved passenger Wi-Fi service with Microsoft Power BI

Transport for London - Customer Case Study

Transport For London operates the Emirates Air Line cable car and needed a low‑cost way to improve customer service, provide free Wi‑Fi, and gain timely operational insight to support predictive maintenance and more efficient operations. Working with Microsoft partner TBS Mobility and leveraging Microsoft Power BI alongside Azure services (IoT Hub, Stream Analytics, Azure Functions, Blob storage) and TV White Spaces/LoRaWAN connectivity, the authority set out to instrument cabins and stations and create new revenue opportunities from connectivity.

TBS Mobility and Microsoft technologies delivered an end‑to‑end IoT solution: TV White Spaces Wi‑Fi in cabins and stations, smart CCTV frames processed via Blob storage → Azure Functions → Event Hubs → Stream Analytics, and LoRaWAN temperature/humidity sensors feeding Azure IoT Hub. The deployment covers the 1.5 km route with 32 active cabins, produces about 900 IoT messages/day (sensors every ~15 minutes), enables pedestrian counting and real‑time monitoring, reduces maintenance costs, increases availability, and supports predictive maintenance and monetization of Wi‑Fi—insights visualized using Microsoft Power BI.

Transport For London