The Hindu : RTC to introduce new system to track vehicle movement

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 24, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

RTC to introduce new system to track vehicle movement

By Our Special Correspondent

Hyderabad Jan. 23. Faced with stiff competition from private operators and a series of accidents involving its vehicles, the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation is coming out with a unique project shortly.

Christened as the "automatic vehicle location of display system'', the new system will make extensive use of the Global Positioning Systems to track the vehicle's movement at any point of time and inform passengers waiting for it from time to time. The AVLDS envisages installing a GPS instrument atop the bus, which beams signals of the bus' movement to a satellite which in turn relays the signals to a controlling station.

The controlling station on its part will transmit the information to all the bus stations en route wherein the information pertaining to the bus like its location and the expected time of arrival will be displayed on the screens installed for the purpose. The software for the new system is being developed by the Computer Maintenance Corporation of India and the pilot project between Hyderabad and Vijayawada routes is likely to be grounded some time next month, according to the RTC vice-chairman and managing director, R. P. Singh.

Explaining the salient features of the AVLDS, Mr Singh told The Hindu that the new system would facilitate giving out information to passengers well in advance to ensure that they were not subjected to inordinate delays. "This is a unique project in the country and therefore, the Central Government has come forward to provide 50 per cent grant in the total cost, expected to be around Rs 70 lakhs. Though Karnataka is ahead of Andhra Pradesh in using GPS for tracking vehicles, it is by and large restricted to hired vehicles unlike in the State where the system is contemplated for long distance public travel services,'' he said.

According to the RTC managing director, the corporation is planning to introduce the system on all its routes based on the success of the pilot project. Towards this end, the RTC would incur an expenditure of Rs 10,000 each for installing the GPS instruments on each of its buses in addition to the costs involved in setting up a controlling station and providing screens at all the bus stations.

On the other developments planned by the RTC, Mr Singh said that the corporation is planning to introduce the Volvo luxury buses in 10 of its main long distance routes including Mumbai, Tirupati and Vijayawada. The fare in the Hi-Tech buses would be on the higher side, when compared to other services as each bus would cost the RTC a whopping Rs 49 lakhs. In addition, the RTC also planned to add 100 more buses to its existing fleet of more than 19,000 services during the next one year besides replacing about 200 old ones with new ones.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

Stories in this Section

Draft budget reflects Govt. bankruptcy: CPI(M)

Charminar to get `dynamic' look

APCOB takes exception to YSR letter to CM

Clarification

25 DSPs promoted

Budget to rely heavily on borrowings

Dishonest exercise: Rosaiah

Fiscal document conceals more than it reveals: BJP

RTC to introduce new system to track vehicle movement