BENGALURU: A new initiative by Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) to help city commuters track buses on a real time basis at bus stands has hit a road block, with the BBMP opposing the move. As bus stops come under the jurisdiction of BBMP and it gets revenue from advertisements displayed on these stops, it does not want to forego it. BMTC now plans to take up the issue with the Chief Secretary. The proposed Passengers Information display board (PIDB), which is a part of its intelligent transportation system (ITS), will provide information in English and Kannada about the bus movements and their arrival and departure timings. It also has a provision for display advertisements.
However, BBMP is not ready to share the bus stop space for PIDB as they fear they may lose advertising revenue. BMTC Managing Director V. Ponnuraj told Deccan Chronicle that for a long time BMTC bus commuters have been facing the issue of lack of information regarding bus availability and PIDB intends to address it. “We aim to install PIDB in 500 major bus stops. The entire plan is ready from our end and we are awaiting BBMP’s approval," he said.
However, a BBMP source said the BBMP Commissioner, who had earlier worked with the transport department, has welcomed PIDB, but the elected members of the civic body have ensured that this project remained only on paper. BMTC, which operates buses on more than 2,000 routes in Bengaluru has around 6,000 bus shelters. A copy with Deccan Chronicle says the BMTC has requested multiple times for BBMP’s approval.
“We have written a letter seeking approval from BBMP, but nothing has changed and now we are decided to take up this issue to the higher level to Chief Secretary’s office. Because this initiative was a dream project of BMTC, for which we recently collected data of all bus routes. The new technology will make real-time information such as weather and bus updates visible. And even after installation of PIDB they can continue with the advertisements, which would look even more attractive," Ponnuraj added.
According to the recent survey, the kilometres covered by a BMTC bus per hour has come down to 17 from 24. This forces commuters to hire a cab or to take metro. “I usually book a cab to reach my place because we don’t know the exact time of BMTC bus arrival. Installation of PIDB will be really helpful to commuters,” said Shashi Kumar C., a resident of Vijayanagar. Deccan Chronicle tried to contact BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad, but he remained unavailable.
