Date:30/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/30/stories/2008103054170400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Private operators ahead of RTCs

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: Even as State Road Transport Corporations are yet to reap the benefits of Global Positioning System (GPS), private bus operators in Dakshina Kannada district have a gone a step ahead by installing the devices on as many as 60 buses.

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, the parent organisation of the other transport corporations in the State, has been talking of GPS and Geographical Information System (GIS) to provide, among other things, online passenger information system on bus stations, for quite some time. However, the scheme is yet to materialise across the State.

Even the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, which has a fleet of over 4,000 buses, has not installed GPS on all its buses. While the corporation had experimented with offline GPS for sometime, it did not have a logical conclusion with online GPS. Now the corporation says GPS will be installed on its buses once the common ticketing system is introduced (after Namma Metro begins its operations).

On the other hand, the GPS experiment is being carried out on a large scale in Dakshina Kannada district, where private bus operators have a large presence. Rajavarma Ballal, president of Karnataka State Bus Owners’ Federation and owner of Ballal Motors, said: “Apart from online tracking of buses, the gadget sends an SOS to the main server, either kept at the jurisdictional regional transport office or with bus owners’ association, in case the bus is involved in an accident. This will help rushing of emergency services immediately to the spot.” A warning device inside the bus would alert the driver if he exceeded the prescribed speed limit besides alerting the owner.

Private bus owners had borrowed nearly Rs. 17 lakh to install the gadget, each costing Rs. 20,000. The GPS service provider had assured to give audio advertisement capsules, which could be announced inside the buses, which would have fetched the owner at least Rs. 3,000 a month. However, the assurance is yet to materialise as the equipment could not be put to optimum use owing to pathetic condition of roads in Dakshnia Kannada and Udupi districts.