In a few months, residents of the city will no longer have to stand for hours in bus stands, waiting for buses. For the BMTC has finalised tenders for a mobile application which will enable people to track the bus they are waiting for and plan the trip to the bus stop accordingly.
The application will be available on Windows and Android phones, apart from iPhones.
BMTC MD Anjum Parvez announced this at the cornerstone-laying ceremony of a new bus station at Nagarbhavi on Sunday. “Initially, the app will only provide details of buses based on their frequency. But once our Intelligent Transport System is in place (which will take around 7-8 months), commuters can track the buses in real time,” he said.
In order to increase its efficiency, BMTC also has plans to upgrade its call centre. While a helpline number (155220) has already been put in place for commuters to call for information and lodge complaints, the upgraded call centre will have an operator working 24x7. BMTC will call tenders for this soon.
Meanwhile, 15 kiosks will be set up at bus stops for commuters to find out details about the corporation, buses and routes.
Of the 500 CCTV cameras which were supposed to set up at bus stands in the city, only 200 have been installed and the rest will be set up at a cost of `3.40 crore, Parvez said.
Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said the BMTC also plans to set up kiosks for employees to apply for leave and avail other benefits.