Kerala State Road Transport Corporation bus tracking a flop

Kochi: Commuters are yet to receive any benefit of the bus-tracking initiative of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) launched with much fanfare in February. Worse! The process of installing the Global Positioning System as part of the measure on all services except the ordinary ones was stopped midway due to the acute financial crisis. Big screens at depots were to inform passengers about running status of buses, Fast Passenger and higher classes, just like that of an airport, providing their locations, speed and the expected time of arrival, among others.

“Out of the 1700-odd FP and Super class buses, GPS was so far installed only on 750. We’re yet to fine-tune the system so as to extend the information to the public. Right now, the selected lot of buses can be monitored by officials at depots and the head office but passengers can not enjoy the service,” a senior officer said. All the 750 vehicles were to be fitted with GPS in the initial phase, and no such work was done for the past many months.  “The work was stalled due to the financial crisis. Now the new managing director has issued an order to resume the GPS installation work,” the officer said. Currently, the corporation has a fleet of 6,289 buses including 1229 FP services, 411 Super Fast, 26 Super Express, ten Silver Line Jet, 50 Super Deluxe and 13 multi-axle Volvo buses.

There are also 190 low-floor AC buses and 413 non-AC buses under its sister concern Kerala Urban Road Transport Corporation (KURTC). The GPS-based Vehicle Tracking system was launched by then transport minister Thiruv-anchoor Radhakrishnan earlier this year.  Started with buses in the Thiruvananthapuram depot, the system was extended to four more depots – Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kottayam and Kozhikode. However, many buses in the depots are yet to be fitted with the GPS. “Only 30 of our 150-odd superclass buses are fitted with the device,” said an official with the Ernakulam depot.