Travel in BMTC buses to get smarter by next year

Corporation hopes to launch ITS initiative in January

 Being informed about when a bus will arrive at the bus stop, how much time to wait for the bus, exact location of a particular bus among others will make your travel easy

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Come January 2016, this will be a reality. The BMTC buses will be equipped with Intelligent Transport Solution (ITS), the pro-passenger information technology initiative that has been in the works for sometime now.

 “The ITS is meant to enhance passenger comfort and improve the systemic functioning of the BMTC buses. We want to offer up-to-date information to commuters. Tests are going on and we will be launching the ITS in January,” Chief Traffic Manager (Operations) B C Renukeshwar told Deccan Herald.

Buses can be tracked
The IT initiative, says Renukeshwar, has several important aspects to it. “Under ITS, we will have a vehicle monitoring system through GPS, electronic ticketing, passenger information system and mobile applications. People can track the buses using their mobiles from wherever they are at any given point in time,” the senior BMTC official said.

The vehicle monitoring system will track the buses from the time the trip starts to the time it ends. A GPS device is fitted onto the bus to track its movement, speed, whether it is plying on the defined route, rash driving, if any, among others. A vital aspect of the system is there will be an direct online interaction between the control room and the driver. Corrections can be made straightaway if errors are noticed.

Tedious task
The BMTC will also have electronic ticketing machines. At present, the conductor is burdened with the tedious task of issuing tickets and writing down the details in the trip sheet. With electronic machines, the burden will be eased.

The passenger information system and the mobile application are perhaps the most important aspects of the ITS. The ITS would help the passengers get real time update of buses during their wait at bus stops. This information will be available on the mobiles of the commuters. All they need to do is send an SMS to a particular number or log on to a particular website and all the information can be downloaded.

Prabha Sreenivas, who travels by BMTC buses everyday, said that the ITS would help her plan travel,  “I travel to several places in a day, but buses don’t come on time. I have to wait at each bus stop not knowing when the bus will come. If there is information that tells us about the bus arrival at a particular time, any alternative buses or routes, the anxiety of waiting will be gone.”