BMTC to roll out system to make bus service efficient

The BMTC’s much-awaited Intelligent Transport System (ITS), which ensures that buses ply according to schedule and checks malpractices in existing ticketing system, will be rolled out on Monday.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, BMTC Director (IT) Kumar Pushkar said the project, whose launch was postponed several times last year, would be implemented on a pilot basis at Yelahanka Depot (Depot 11).

The main features of ITS include installation of Global Positioning System (GPS) devices on buses as well as replacing the existing tickets with the Electronic Ticketing Machine (ETM).

Through this, the BMTC will be able to ensure that the buses operate according to the scheduled time while sticking to the prescribed route.

As many as 217 buses operate from Yelahanka depot. After a trial period and before November, the BMTC seeks to implement the system in all the 40 depots in the City, Pushkar said.

The monthly expenditure of the project is about Rs 1.16 crore.  The project is being implemented with the assistance of Trimax IT Infrastructure and Services Ltd, a Mumbai-based company.

The Electronic Ticketing Machine (ETM) is aimed at checking the pilferage reported in the existing ticketing system.


At present, the BMTC has 500 ETM sets which are used on Vayu Vajra buses on selected routes.

In the next three months, the BMTC aims to replace the existing tickets with the new ones across all the routes in the City. As the time and date of issue of tickets would be clearly mentioned in the new ticket, there would be no provision for manipulation, Pushkar explained.

In the existing method, conductors are required to enter details of the ticket sales in a book. In the new system, the ETM would keep track of the all the ticket details, he added.

In the long run, BMTC wants to minimise cash transaction on buses.  By the end of December, smart cards would further ease the ticketing system.

Regular passengers will be able to recharge the smart card at any point by approaching the bus conductor.

Moreover, a mobile application is also being planned so that people can recharge it with the help of their phones, the official added.

Meanwhile, member of BMTC Bus Prayanikara Vedike, Vinay Sreenivasa said that it was not enough for the BMTC to introduce ETM for tickets but it had to ensure transparency.

“Nowhere do they display the stage-wise fares. In some cases, the onward and return journey ticket fares vary as the routes taken and the stages travelled tend to change. The BMTC itself seems to be running this on ad-hoc basis. This has to be made transparent,” he explained.