IT-enabled services for streamlining bus operations and monitoring traffic revenue collection of Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) are to be implemented shortly.
The service is being outsourced to a private player for five years, at Rs. 15 crore annually. The private service provider brings in the infrastructure, including global positioning system (GPS) gadgets for buses and electronic ticketing machines (ETMs), for online monitoring of operations and revenue collection.
Outgoing BMTC Managing Director K.R. Srinivasa told The Hindu that the lowest bidder was selected after following due tendering process. He said that the corporation is awaiting clearance from the Finance Department and hoped that his successor would take the issue forward.
Through this initiative, 6,000 BMTC buses would be fitted with GPS devices and tracked online. As a result, among other things, the crew who tend to give the last trip of the day a miss will not be able to do that.
The GPS devices will be integrated with the ETMs for generating periodic reports on traffic revenue collection, which, officials believe, will end pilferage. The ETMs will be compatible with the proposed Common Mobility Card, through which one can shift seamlessly between BMTC and Bangalore Metro Rail.
Dissent
However, there have been voices of dissent within the corporation with some senior officials saying that the payment of Rs. 15 crore a year to the private player would be a burden on BMTC.
These officials argue that online tracking of bus operations was enough. There was no need to integrate GPS devices with electronic ticketing machines, which hiked the cost. ETMs by itself will check pilferage, the officers argued. They state that stand-alone ETMs will be much cheaper than online ETMs. BMTC personnel themselves are capable of managing ITES thereby saving Rs. 15 crore to be paid to the private operator every year, they said.
Fleet augmentation
Besides introducing ITES for better delivery of services, BMTC is in the process of adding more buses to its fleet this year.
