The Transport Department is developing software so that the list of passengers travelling by private buses, and their drivers, will be available on the department’s website.
The move comes in the wake of October’s Volvo bus tragedy at Palem in Mahabubnagar district, which claimed over 40 lives. Authorities trying to pass on information of victims to their families had had a hard time then as the bus operator did not maintain the details of all the passengers.
It was only after the kin of victims thronged the bus operator’s office at Lakdikapul, that the authorities could gather the necessary information.
There are over 1,200 private buses in the city, most of whom fail to maintain the mandatory passenger information list, their phone numbers, family phone numbers, addresses, etc., department officials said on condition of anonymity.
“There are many reasons. Most drivers are not trained in maintaining the list. Also operators avoid the list as they cannot sell one passenger’s ticket to another, in the process violating the A.P. Motor Vehicles Rules. Since most operators have different boarding points, they also tend to board passengers all along the journey which means they cannot alter the passenger list at every boarding point,” officials pointed out.
The software being developed is being seen as a bid to curb such malpractices, enabling private bus operators to update final passengers’ information from all their boarding points onto the department’s website. Modalities are being worked out about the procedure, add officials.
