Soon, tracking MSRTC buses & booking seats to become reality

Want to board a state transport bus but unsure about its punctuality? Worry not. Soon, booking seats on these buses will be as easy as booking a cab on ride-hailing apps like Ola and Uber. People will be able to live-track the location of the vehicles and also reserve their seats using a common app.

Ranjit Singh Deol, Managing Director, Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), told DNA that they are developing an app to be rolled out in the Nashik division of the transport utility in a pilot project. Based on the experience and feedback, it will be extended across the state.

Officials said the formal launch of the app for trials is expected to take place in a month. The project will cost around Rs 30 crore.

This vehicle tracking system (VTS) app will allow users to live-track the location of buses, know if they have been delayed and plan their travel accordingly. The utility will be able to know if buses have broken down or deviated from their set route.

At present, the MSRTC has an app that allows advance booking and the transport undertaking plans to eventually integrate this with the VTS app. The utility also plans to launch the current booking facility (booking seats on buses that are already enroute to their destinations) on the app after it is able to ensure that bus conductors can verify the bookings done online.

"This will be like the Railways' UTS app. People will be able to track location of buses, book tickets and seats. The conductor will be able to check the veracity of these e-tickets to weed out bogus ticket holders," said an official who is working on the system.

Deol confirmed that the MSRTC was initially planning to launch this online current booking facility on select routes and premium category buses like Shivshahi and Shivneri only.

Under the project, GPS devices will eventually be installed on the around 18,000 buses in the MSRTC's fleet. The pilot project in Nashik will cover 458 buses in six depots (Nashik, Sinnar, Manmad, Lasalgaon, Pimpalgaon, and Yeola).

"We will able to detect the location of buses, route deviations, speed violations, unwanted halts and breakdowns," said an official from the Nashik division, adding it would help the utility rationalise and rework their existing routes.

The VTS app is likely to be opened up for users in a month after systems are in place. For state transport commuters who do not use the vehicle tracking app, screens could be set up at stops and depots to give information about the location of buses.

The official said user acceptance tests are being conducted before freezing the VTS app's design before it is launched in other parts of the state next year.

MSRTC At A Glance

• There are around 18,000 buses in the fleet
• There are 247 MSRTC bus depots and 578 bus stations
• The buses halt at around 3,500 stoppages.