The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is likely to overhaul its Intelligent Transport System (ITS) by March 2021. The upgraded system includes a new mobile app with safety features for women, a bus surveillance system, passenger information system at bus stands, vehicular tracking system and other features. It will be taken up under the Nirbhaya scheme at an estimated cost of ₹40.92 crore.
The transport corporation will also install cameras and panic buttons in 5,000 buses. According to officials, the new mobile app will have provisions for an SOS button that will allow users to send an SMS, voice message, picture or videos with their current location to their list of emergency contacts. They can also use it to send their location and video to the Bengaluru Police’s women’s helpline and the BMTC control room as it will be integrated with the ‘Suraksha’ app.
K. Santosh Babu, Director (IT), BMTC, said that in addition to providing safety features for women commuters, the new mobile app will help passengers by providing details such as estimated time of arrival (ETA) of buses, location of nearest bus stops, and enabling the purchase of tickets through digital transactions.
The BMTC hopes to get it right this time around. “In the past, attempts were to provide ETA and other details on the mobile app. However, passengers faced several issues as the app could not provide accurate details. While developing the new app, measures will be taken to provide real-time information so that passengers can plan their journey,” said the official.
The mobile app will be integrated with cab services and bike rental operators.
“Integration of mobile apps with other service providers will allow passengers to book cabs or bikes for first- or last-mile connectivity. They can buy tickets on the apps too,” said Mr. Babu.
It will also be integrated with Namma Metro, KSRTC and other services, and will be made available in Kannada and English.
The corporation had earlier built an ITS by roping in a private firm as system integrator. The ITS has been operational since 2015. However, the private firm ran into financial trouble resulting in ‘discrepancies’ in services.
Short-term tender
The BMTC has floated a fresh short-term tender for the project and hopes to complete the process by December-end. In the previous tender, the premium quoted was around ₹59 crore, but the sanctioned amount was ₹41 crore, said BMTC Managing Director C. Shikha.
“Barring the ticket collection system, the rest of the components in the ITS, such as vehicular tracking, mobile app, and surveillance measures, will be covered under the new project. We are hoping that the new system will be in place by March,” she added.
