Another Boost to Public Transport in Delhi, Buses Fitted With GPS, Stops Announce ETA
With a population nearly as much as that of Australia, and having more automobiles on its roads than all the other three India metropolitan cities put together adding approx. 1,500 new cars to the road each day, the traffic situation in the city of Delhi is shockingly scary. The situation is fortunately been taken note of by the administration and a push to promote public transport in the city has been there since a long time now.
The city has seen the launch of a state-of-the-art Metro Rail which is now the pride of Delhi and carries lakhs of commuters daily. The city also saw the launch of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system which, owing to several reasons, did not go down well with the public (and/or the media). Now, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and the Delhi Integrated Modal Transport System (DIMTS) have launched a GPS enabled Public Information System (PIS) to not only enable the commuters waiting at the bus stand to find out the estimated time of arrival (ETA) of the bus they are waiting for, but also check the status of buses online!
The Delhi Integrated Multi Modal Transit System Ltd. (DIMTS) is a joint venture company set up with equal equity of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) and Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC). It is an urban transport and infrastructure services company aiming to develop and deliver world class urban infrastructure to the citizens of Delhi, primarily in the area of urban transport. It has also been involved in promoting public ‘bus’ transport in the city.
The Passenger Information System (PIS) implemented by the DIMTS is so far on an experimental basis. The System uses the Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to determine real-time information (location and time) of the bus and taking into account the current position of the buses, speed and scheduled stops predicts the expected time of arrival of bus at any stop on the selected route. This ETA of buses in minutes is then sent to LED Boards, again through GPRS connection.
This complete IT solution is slated to help the passengers waiting at the bus stops in reducing the waiting anxiety. It is also expected that this would help to build the commuters confidence in public transport in a city that really needs it and solve problem of congestion and pollution in the longer run. This will certainly be a boon for the regular commuters who use the bus in city but its effectiveness will be determined by how best it is maintained. For that is something the city administration has failed the public on many an incidences before.
Check out the PIS online: http://dimts.in/passengerinfo.html
Image by Balaji Bharadwaj courtesy Flickr | First Posted in EcoWorldly
Thank you for using my photograph and acknowledging the same.
Need for a reduction in the privately owned vehicles to bring about efficient transport is an undisputed positive for the city, no doubt. All these efforts are welcome. At the same time a cordon pricing for parking and entry into Central Business Districts, is an idea that needs to be introduced as well. So if the pinch for using your private vehicles is felt the switch to mass transport will be that much quicker.