Saturday, September 29, 2018

By early 2019, this app will help you track MTC buses

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:29.09.2018

By early next year, commuters in Chennai will get an app that will tell them when the next MTC bus will turn up at their location.

In October, the government will identify a service provider and sign an agreement to launch a mobile application and a bilingual website. The Institute of Road Transport has floated a ₹20 crore tender for the project. The tracking system, the first for government-run transport companies, will be rolled out within 90 days of a deal being signed for the Metropolitan Transport Corporation in Chennai and over 11 months for the other seven transport corporations in the state.

“One of the biggest problems for the commuter is getting information about the arrival of buses. The result is they take other means of transport. Now we provide a ready reckoner to improve the ridership,” said transport secretary P W C Davidar. Currently, 1.8 crore passengers daily use the eight state transport corporations that have a combined fleet of nearly 22,000 buses.

The mobile app will have a single-touch SOS/panic button, which if activated will send the current location of the phone to select contacts. It also facilitates location tracking.

The app and website will display the routes, stops, and position of the buses in real time.

They will display the arrival time of the next two buses at all the stops along a route, besides suggesting the fastest and cheapest routes available for the entered journey. In case, the bus is reassigned to a different route, the depot concerned will send out a notification.

There are more than one lakh bus stops in the state and currently passengers lack exact information on the movement of buses. The new system will see GPS/tracking devices installed on the buses.

“Each bus stop in the state has already been geo-coded and a unique identity given with in-house expertise by the transport corporations,” said Davidar.

This mobile app and website will enable data analytics, trip search details (origin, destination), and route rationalization to improve the services.




The system, the first for government-run transport companies, will be rolled out within 90 days of a deal being signed for the MTC in Chennai

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