Amazon has filed a patent for mobile transfer stations on public buses.
The basic idea is that customers simply board a bus at a suitable stop and pick up their packages from a delivery module located in or on the vehicle. According to a patent application, not all customers can benefit from the delivery compartments which are set up at various pick-up locations (eg in the vicinity of grocery stores). In addition, some customers may live and work in regions where few or no carriers are available to deliver packages.
Thus, the system would operate according to the patent: “A user may begin by entering an address or area, whereupon the system may present a list of bus stops near the address or area,” the patent says.
“When the user selects a bus stop,” the patent says, “the system can present a list of timeslots in which different buses with mobile pick-up positions are scheduled at the bus stop.”
A customer could also pick up items from a regular bus, the patent application added.
