Sick KSRTC coughs up lakhs for faulty electronic ticketing machines

Kochi: The loss-making Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is coughing up lakhs of rupees as user charges even as a majority of its 6,000 electronic ticketing machines (ETMs) fails to function due to connectivity issues. Sources say 40 percent of the machines have developed a technical glitch and though tender condition called for replacement upon an ETM failure and taken for service, the same is not happening.

According to them, the corporation is paying the BSNL a hefty amount of Rs 15 lakh per month as data usage charges. However, the ETMs used on running buses hardly get the benefits intended through the general packet radio service that enables data transfer. The real purpose of introducing ETMs was real-time data transfer such as the number of tickets sold between bus stops, the frequency of the service and the running time among others.

The management also planned it as a centrally-controlled system to prevent frauds by monitoring collections of each schedule on real time basis. “However, we constantly get notification of message deliveries getting failed. None of the intended purposes is served rather than using it just as a ticket racket. Also the message ‘insert SIM card’ regularly pops up,” said a conductor on condition of anonymity.

This despite the authorities purchasing each racket at Rs 9,000 (instead of Rs 4,000 used on private buses) for added features of GPS and Bluetooth. The corporation directly bought ETMS in two phases and entered a maintenance contract with the company QuantumAeon for three and a half years. R. Chandrababu, who is in charge of EDP Centre, denied the connectivity issues but said he would look into the issues.