With GPS being installed on as many as 850 private buses, commuters will be able to keep track of them using the Kochi-1 inter-modal app from November.
This will be in addition to the Chalo app which has been helping them locate buses on various routes. The Chalo app will continue to be in use even after the Kochi-1 app is extended to buses.
The difference is that the first helps commuters monitor movement of buses, while the other enables them to keep track of different public-transportation modes and their feeder systems, sources in Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) said.
Smart cards
The installation of machines on 850 buses to read pre-paid smart cards that will help people enjoy cashless commuting too is expected to be completed in November. A trial is already under way in a few dozen buses to enable KMRL and Axis Bank, which is fine-tuning the system, to ensure that everything is foolproof.
In the Kochi metro, commuters enjoy discounts of 25% and 33% if they recharge their Kochi-1 cards for 30 and 60 trips respectively. On whether bus passengers will be offered similar discounts, K.B. Suneer, general secretary, Ernakulam District Private Bus Operators Association, said operators could not think of it at the moment. “We are already finding the going tough due to the skyrocketing price of diesel,” he added.
Monitoring
Elaborating on the trial run of card-reading machines installed on a few private buses in Kochi, metro sources said monitoring of cards being swiped in the machines would also help assess the travel pattern on different routes.
Server connectivity issues too will be redressed before machines are installed on all buses.
Simultaneously, conductors will have to be trained in the new system, they added. After private and KSRTC buses, such machines will be installed on autorickshaws. Apart from enabling cashless payment, it will help prevent fleecing by unscrupulous drivers.
