Hindustan Times ( Nov 14 , 2018 ) carries following news :
Commuters
will also be able to see capacity of buses, vehicles plying on the route
I sent an
email to BEST officers on 16 Feb
2016 , suggesting following :
[ of these , as per above-mentioned News report
, by March 2019 , BEST will introduce only those highlighted in my following email ]
When will
rest get implemented ?
PUBLIC
TRANSPORT AS A SOLUTION ?
SOLUTIONS ( even , if partial ) :
·
Gradually change over to air conditioned buses
·
Do not allow standee passengers ( this will require adding many
more buses )
·
Introduction of BRTS ( Bus Rapid Transit System )
·
Bus Arrival Time
Indicators ( linked with GPS in all buses ) at all bus stops
·
A tablet type digital device fitted behind each seat , where
passenger to touch his
destination on route map displayed .
·
Passenger will also touch his smart phone to the device which
will transfer the fare
amount to the bus operator , through a
mobile wallet .
·
No need for a conductor - as practiced in many foreign countries
!
This will tell the driver , at which stops
, which passengers are getting off and seat/s
are falling
vacant
·
If bus is already FULL and no passenger is getting off at the
next bus stop , then driver will not halt the bus , since he cannot accommodate
any standee passenger
If a passenger is supposed to get off at ,
say XYZ stop , digital device will flash a
signal / ring a bell , a few minutes before
reaching the stop
·
The Bus Arrival Time Indicator , at the stop will also display
the " No of Vacant Seats " in this bus
·
This ( No of Vacant Seats ) sign will also appear prominently on
the bus itself as it pulls into the halt
·
It is equally easy to introduce such an integrated traffic
management system in Inter- City buses as well
·
Entire intra-city bus traffic will be monitored and controlled
from the Central Traffic
·
Control Station of the
city traffic department , much in the same way ATC control air
traffic or
railways control train traffic
·
It is just a question of extending an existing ( but slightly
modified ) technology to city traffic
·
As far as density of
traffic on various roads is concerned , mobile apps are already
Available
·
Based on the situation , Central Traffic Control will order
additional buses to be injected on any particular route , at any given time
In some foreign
countries , even elevator systems in large office buildings are designed to
gauge the number of persons waiting for elevator at each floor ( and how many
want to go UP and how many want to go DOWN ), the number of persons riding at
any time , within each elevator ( and their travel intentions ) and adjust
their stopping / halting pattern accordingly , automatically without
human intervention !
Implementing such a system could not be a big problem for a
country which takes pride in calling itself ,
A SOFTWARE SUPER POWER !
Only thing lacking is political
will
Earlier
– and this mail – sent to :
15 Nov
2018
www.hemenparekh.in / blogs