HYDERABAD: LED display boards at bus stops in Hyderabad will soon start showing ‘Expected Arrival Time’ (ETA) of some of the APSRTC buses, as test runs of Vehicle Tracking and Passenger Information System of APSRTC, has been successful.
The APSRTC authorities are planning to launch the system in Hyderabad to make people know the arrival time of buses. Once this system is launched, people can also know when a particular bus will arrive at a bus stop by using mobile phones. So that they can plan their move from home.
Expected Arrival Time of Buses will be displayed on 150 LED/LCD boards set up at some city bus stops. Besides this, voice systems have already been installed in Volvo buses which announce time to be taken for a bus to reach a location. Cameras have also been set up in buses for surveillance purpose.
G Jaya Rao, executive director, Greater Hyderabad Zone, APSRTC said they had completed conducting test runs and the system is all set to be launched. “In the first phase, the information system will be implemented in 1347 Metro Express, Deluxe, and AC buses,” he added.
How does the system work?: Latitude and Longitude of buses will be tracked using the Global Positioning System (GPS) and GPRS SIM cards will send the information to data centres of the corporation. Expected Arrival Time of a bus will be calculated using an algorithm which takes into account traffic, time of the day and day of week, said an official earlier. The information will be sent to display boards at bus stops.