Chandigarh, November 26: The Punjab Government in compliance with the new transport policy is all set to launch Bus Tracking System in Punjab Roadways and PUNBUS. This was informed by Razia Sultana Transport Minister, Punjab while reviewing the performance of the bus tracking system at the Monitoring and control room of Punjab Roadways and PUNBUS.
Disclosing this in a press communiqué, Razia Sultana said that Punjab Roadways and Punjab State Bus Stand Management Company (PUNBUS) are installing a vehicle tracking system in its buses and developing a passenger information system for the passenger. This project is being implemented in 1800 buses at a total cost of Rs. 5.8 Cr to be operated for 5 years out of which 50% of the capital cost is being given by the Government of India.
She said that the Central monitoring and control room is being established in Head Office of Punjab Roadways and PUNBUS where live tracking of buses will be monitored in real-time. She said that this is the first step of the Government of Punjab in the installation of a vehicle tracking system in a passenger transport vehicle of Punjab as per the new transport policy. She said that the Pilot phase for the deployment of GPS Devices in 110 buses has been completed in Jalandhar-1 & Jalandhar-2 depot. This system will now be installed in all 18 depots of Punjab Roadways and PUNBUS. The implementation of this project will be completed by May 2020. This project is to be extended to buses of PRTC and private stage carriage buses in the near future.
The Minister while divulging upon the benefits of this project, the Transport Minister said that when this project is fully implemented a panic button will be provided in all buses in collaboration with Punjab Police for passenger safety especially women's safety. Likewise, the central control room is being established at Chandigarh for monitoring and control of buses. She said that events like over-speeding, harsh braking, harsh acceleration, stopping at un-authorized stop, stoppage of more than 25 minutes at authorized Dhaba’s buses going via bypass, flyover, route deviation, early and late departure, missing of scheduled Kms, etc. will be monitored in real-time in control room and also at depot level and alerts will also be sent through SMS.
Razia Sultana said that Management Information systems like driver behavior, conductor behavior, bus utilization, staff utilization, late/early running of buses, a record of kilometers etc. will be maintained. “By Implementation of this system, the Transport Department has taken a step ahead towards safely of passenger especially women in its buses. Passengers will be able to check/track their buses position along with ETA/ETD of individual bus stands with the help of Mobile Application,” Sultana added.