It plans paperless passes, bus credit facility as change that will eliminate 'change'.
The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) will soon begin efforts to go paperless, at least with its monthly passes and both commuters and conductors may no longer have to suffer the ‘change’ problem.
In about 10 months, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation’s Intelligent Transport System (ITS) is expected to kick in, when the BMTC will introduce Bus Credit system through which commuters can pay through smart cards.
The tenders for ITS were finalised recently. A consortium of companies - the Delhi Integrated Multi Modal Transit System (DIMMTS), which is a joint venture of the government of NCT of Delhi and the IDFC Foundation and Shobha Applied DSP - won the tenders and work orders will be issued soon.
Apart from Passenger Information system and GPS monitoring of buses, the BMTC will also introduce Electronic ticketing machines (ETMs).
Anjum Parvez, MD, BMTC, said: “Smart cards can be recharged. To pay the ticket fare, passengers will only have to swipe the card and money will be deducted from the card. Even passes such as the BMTC’s monthly passes will work this way. Commuters only have to recharge the cards.” he said.
“The smart card facility will also drastically reduce our problem of getting and giving change to commuters,” he said.
However, paper passes will also be issued for those who do not have cards.
“There will be people who do not have cards and so we need to issue paper tickets. But, over time, we hope to make a reduction in paper tickets,” he said.
The finalising of tenders for ITS has also revived the project of common bus pass facility for Namma Metro and BMTC passengers. The BMTC as well as BMRCL officials had a meeting recently where the joint committee formed for this purpose met to discuss how this can be worked out, Parvez said.
“We are also talking to KSRTC to see how they can also be included in the common pass facility for different modes of transport,” he said.
While the work on setting up ITS is on, the BMTC is also working on how passengers can access the soon to be relaunched website to plan their trips.
“The Trip Planner will work on Google maps to inform commuters of all possible routes to reach point B from point A. It will also show where commuters can change their buses to reach the destination,” he said. While this is version 1 of the website, v.2 will also include other modes of transport, he added.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}