Info boards fail to give proper bus timings
Passengers face problems, while DTC, DIMTS play blame game over faulty hi-tech system
The innovative idea of providing commuters information about the estimated time of arrival of buses at bus stops has failed to serve the designated purpose.
The Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS), which implemented the project, and the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) continue to engage themselves in a blame game for the lapse.
DIMTS started installing the Public Information System (PIS) boards at bus stops in October 2011 and has till date installed 220 such display boards. There are around 2,500 bus stops in the city and the project is scheduled to be completed by June.
However, most of the boards provide Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) of only few buses despite several buses stopping at the bus stops in the intervening time.
The DIMTS blames the DTC for not feeding the data of deployment of number of buses on a particular route and their schedule, saying it is the prime cause for the lapse.
The DTC officials counter that they have nothing to do with the project and DIMTS is merely passing the buck. “The operating procedure is very clear. DIMTS has to deploy people for data entry and the transport department would bear the cost. They are just passing the buck,” said A K Goyal, Chief General Manager (PR), DTC.
The DTC officials argued that had the data entry from DTC been the only problem, there would not have been complaints of lack of information on the PIS boards about the cluster of buses being run by the DIMTS.
Inadequate training
A DIMTS official said some of the DTC staff members were trained to update the data, from the state-of-the-art communications centre established at Kashmere Gate to operate the PIS at the depots during out-shedding of the buses. However, a DTC official said few hours of training is inadequate and there are several practical problems in the technology itself.
Usage of GPS
The currently installed PIS uses the Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to determine real-time information (location and time) of the buses and taking into account their current position, speed and scheduled stops predicts the ETA of a bus at any stop on the selected route.
This estimated time of arrival of buses in minutes is then sent to LED boards, through a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) connection.
