Dist Admin to Set Up an App to Track Movement of City Buses as part of Smart City Scheme
Mangaluru: With the present issues faced by the commuters pertaining to city buses, like buses not plying regularly on the prescribed routes, conductors not issuing tickets, rash driving of bus drivers, rude behaviour of bus conductors, and so on- and in an effort to address such kind of problems incurred by the commuters, the district administration is set to come out with an App that will not only help track the movement of buses but will also facilitate commuters to give feedback. This App is proposed to be used for people to also hire auto-rickshaws online.
This was revealed by Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil during a Road Transport Authority meeting held at his office on Wednesday, 19 December where He said that the integrated transport App was being developed by the district administration as part of the Smart City Scheme. He further added that the administration would first concentrate on city buses and then integrate auto-rickshaws with the facility- and the App will most probably be launched by April 2019.
As part of this exercise, city bus operators were asked to install RFID (radio frequency identification) tags in their vehicles. They were also asked to paint all city buses with light blue with three strips of white in the middle.
In response to this, Dilraj Alva-the president of Dakshina Kannada Bus Operators Association expressed hardship in painting buses at a short notice, and also said that the association has started mapping the routes of all 350 city buses; and that the operators would fix GPS (Global Positioning System) devices on these buses, and the city buses would also be equipped with panic buttons. Replying back DC said that a scheme can be worked out to implement it in a phased manner in regards to the painting of buses.
When complaints of conductors not issuing tickets and buses not plying on the prescribed routes came up during the meeting, DC Senthil said that adopting technology will address a host of problems affecting the city bus service. “We will have information with GPS and RFIDs. Those not following the permit guidelines could easily be tracked and action would be taken,” he said.
Auto rickshaws drivers in the city would be registered with the App that will help online booking. There would also be a facility like “wallet”, which is now being provided by online taxi aggregators, added DC.