Transport: Mysore makes a smart move

Here is one more feather in the cap of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and Mysore City.

The Union ministry of urban development has selected the corporation to run an intelligent transport system (ITS) in Mysore.

Passengers will benefit as ITS will track buses through Global Positioning System (GPS) and provide real-time information on the arrival and departure of the buses on their mobilephones.

“The project aims to make public transport a part of urban citizens’ lives. This is to establish a concept of a controlled and regulated public transport, which will be sustainable in the long term and also get rid of pollution, congestion and other ill-effects,” said Gaurav Gupta, managing director of KSRTC.

“The work will be completed by December. The process started two years ago when the World Bank chose 20 to 30 cities. We pitched for Mysore for the project. Part of the money is coming from the World Bank and the rest will be funded by the Centre and state government,” he said.

Mysore has been selected for the Rs20 crore sustainable urban transport project (SUTP) as it is one of the fastest growing urban locations and KSRTC runs a public transport system there.

The project aims to make urban transport sustainable by implementing political, social, technical and financial modules to enhance its necessity and also ensure that its environmental impact is positive.

It is taken up by United Nations Development Programme and is aided by muti-lateral agencies or World Bank. In Asia, the project is co-ordinated by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. At stage one, 500 buses, including air-conditioned vehicles will be fitted with GPS system, and will be controlled by a central monitoring station.  Some 105 employees at the Mysore KSRTC branch will be trained to operate the system that will provide real-time information on the arrival and departure of the buses.

Six terminals and 45 platforms will be fitted with digital display boards where the real-time information on arrival and departure of the buses will be displayed for commuters. Passengers will also receive text messages on their mobilephones on the real-time locations of buses. This will be done at random by taking numbers from individual telecom service providers. To begin with, KSRTC will conduct a workshop related to SUTP and training for personnel on September 21 in Mysore.