BEST plans to monitor buses

MUMBAI: Imagine this: You are standing at a bus stop and an electronic indicator tells the exact number of minutes in which the bus will screech to a halt before you.
The indicator also flashes information about the traffic situation, thereby letting you know the travel time between two destinations. Sounds improbable? However, with the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply Transport (BEST) Undertaking considering deployment of Global Positioning System (GPS) for its bus service, the average Mumbaikar’s daily commute might just hitch a ride on the hi-tech highway.
“We have received an offer from Reliance to use its GPS technology,’’ BEST general manager Swadhin Kshatriya told TNN on Tuesday. The undertaking is now busy working out the modalities of using the GPS technology already available with some companies.
“Instead of investing in setting up the technology we would rather tie up with companies, which already have the software,’’ Mr Kshatriya said. If the BEST manages to pull off this hi-tech coup, it will position itself as the country’s first public transport body to deploy the GPS system.
GPS technology opens vast vistas for transport. GPS is based on reception of signals from satellites, with the aim of fixing the exact location of an object, which could even be a bus. Therefore, GPS will enable BEST officers sitting in the control room to monitor the movement of each bus in the city.
“The technology will enable us to be in touch with our drivers in real time. We can ask them to drive slowly if they are speeding or instruct them to avoid certain routes where there is a traffic jam or flooding,’’ Mr Kshatriya, who completes a year as BEST GM on Tuesday, said.
The technology is already being used by several telecommunication companies to track the exact location of a cell-phone user. The GPS also allows customers to use their credit cards to buy tickets.
“Deploying the technology will require a sizable investment, which can be taken care of by the Mumbai Urban Transport Project’s (MUTP) Management Information System component,’’ Mr Kshatriya said.
Apart from providing funds to replace its aging fleet, the MUTP also focuses on modernising BEST’s transport wing and making it more passenger-friendly.
The Spanish province of Bilbao and Glasgow in Scotland already have such a tracking system in place for their bus transport. China,which has one of the largest public transport systems in the world, too, is working on implementing the system.