Soon people travelling on BEST buses in Mumbai and suburban areas will not be able to hear conductors shouting the name of bus stations as a recording will be alerting passengers about stops. The announcement of bus stops will be heard in three languages, following the similar announcements that are heard in local trains. LED signboards will also be installed in all buses.
Moreover, another system will be installed in buses through which passengers standing at bus stops will be able to track their buses through an app. This will all be done through Rs. 112 crore Intelligent Transport Management System project (ITMS). The trials of the system are being conducted on Backbay and Wadala depot.
“Out of nearly 3,300 buses, the Vehicle Tracking System (through which the announcements will be made) has been installed on 1,246 buses and the Passenger Information System will be installed on 1,899 buses. Eventually both the systems will be integrated and installed on all buses”, BEST officials told Mid-day.
BEST chairman also informed that there are some issues with the existing systems installed in some buses and these will be rectified soon. “We are aware that there are small issues with the new system and we are rectifying them. These are teething troubles and will be corrected as the system settles. The project also involves training staff and an app which will help commuters get real-time updates on bus movement. The issues were discussed in the BEST meeting early this week and we intend to complete the project in 2019,” BEST chairman Anil Patankar told Mid-day.
