A lot has been said about Smart Cities and Smart Transport. Earlier, a post on Smart Bus Stops made an appearance as well. This article aims to cover the Intelligent Transport System [ITS] of two Southern Cities: The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation [BMTC] in Bengaluru and the Mysore City Transport Division of the KSRTC in Mysuru.
Bangalore
BMTC has recently rolled out their [ITS]. I managed to get a chance to talk to someone in the Office of the Chief Systems Manager at Shanthinagar today.
The ITS is being implemented by Trimax Infra, who earlier implemented the Electronic Ticketing System for BEST, RSRTC, and UPSRTC.
Here is what I gathered. The ITS is being implemented in three parts:
- Electronic Ticketing Machines: Trimax has deployed 10,000 Verifone ETMs to 39 depots of the BMTC and trained 7,000 of its drivers. The earlier used Quantum Aeon machines were junked in favour of the new ones which BMTC claims was to enable compatibility with RFID-smart cards. Real-time monitoring of ticket sales is possible, although not being used.
- Tracking of Vehicles: Every bus has been fitted with a GPS-based tracker which can be tracked online, or via an app.
- Public Information System: Under the PIS, displays have been installed at major bus stations to inform the public of which bus is arriving soon. This is similar to what several BEST bus stops on the Western Express Highway have, and what Coimbatore was experimenting with in the post on Smart Bus Stops.
All three components of the ITS are already in operation with the PIS displays installed only at select Bus Stations. BMTC has decided to go for an Open Data Policy, thereby allowing developers to build apps and interfaces with an API to access the data from the ITS.
For more details on the Open Data Policy of the BMTC, do read this post on DataMeet.
Smart Cards are not part of the ITS project. They are being done separately and are due to be rolled out in 3-6 months with all the Pass Issuing Centres being upgraded to issue Smart Cards.
A chat with a conductor later did explain the shortcomings with the ETMs, although Trimax does take quick action on faulty equipment.
BMTC's ITS: Electronic Ticketing and Vehicle Tracking get a Boost! Share on XMysore
The Mysore City Transport Department [MCTD] of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation [KSRTC], also has an ITS in place, called the Mysore Intelligent TRAansport System, known as MITRA. MITRA was formally inaugurated in 2012 by the then Minister for Transport R Ashoka.
Among MITRA’s aims are:
- Real-time monitoring and tracking of buses and help reduce road congestion and other transport issues.
- ITS improves passenger safety, fleet efficiency, services and traffic situation through transmission of real time information.
According to the MITRA microsite, it’s components are:
- Vehicle Tracking
- Real Time Passenger Information System
- Electronic Display Systems
Mysore was smart enough to implement it before the situation got out of hand and sought funds from the World Bank under GEF and JnNURM.
As part of MITRA, the MCTD recorded the pronunciation of every bus stop name, fitted buses with LED Displays, Speakers, set up display units at Bus Shelters, as well as trained its staff to handle the system. An app was also released less than a month ago for commuters to be able to get bus details as well as fare details on their phone.
KSRTC also ran a User Satisfaction Survey, which showed positive results. The entire results of the survey can be seen here.
While MITRA may not seem as fancy as BMTC’s ITS, it is most certainly benefiting commuters positively and helping promote Public Transport in Mysore. One hope that BEST learns a lesson from this, when restarting its own ITS.
Mysore's MITRA is certainly a game changer in Intelligent Transport! Share on XBoth BMTC and MCTD built a huge control room with a server to handle the large volume of data. Data is crucial to any project that involves the common man, mainly for operational efficiency.
Nice post Srikanth…many times I have felt that a BMTC conductor is overburdened with work…ticketing (yes the modern technology does simplify the process), navigating for the driver, facing the wrath of the inspectors, drunken passengers, ticket dodgers…and so on..
Agreed, conductors are an overburdened lot. While technology does make it simpler for both the conductor and the commuter, the current system employed by BMTC burdens the former more. Due to the addition of the 6% Luxury Tax, officials at BMTC are yet to add it to the system so that the tickets come with the full fare. Hence the extra surcharge is sold as a regular manual ticket which requires conductors to issue a printed one plus a regular one which they need to calculate at the end of each stage. This is not the case with MSRTC who issues a separate Surcharge ticket with the machine itself along with the fare ticket.
I took a BMTC Volvo 365B at the same time (7.45pm) from IIM to Hulimavu, three days in a row. The driver and conductor were the same and the bus was also the same (KA01FA1538).
On Day 1, he issued a ticket with the new VeriFone ticket machine.
On Day 2, he issued a ticket with the old machine.
On Day 3, he gave the entire ticket via a punched ticket (old one).
What is this? Is this some kind of scam?
I wish I knew. BMTC is acting strange off late.