BANGALORE: In order to make travel in BMTC buses hassle-free and also to plug pilferage, the transport department has decided to introduce pre-paid smart cards, by possessing which commuters need not purchase tickets every time they travel in these buses.
Transport Minister R Ashok, told reporters on Monday that the BMTC would introduce the smart cards in three selected depots and the same would gradually be extended to other depots if the results were positive.
Ashok said that this system would not only help plug pilferage but also make travel hassle-free.
The department was also planning to bring KSRTC fares on par with BMTC fares to help people travelling to the city from the outskirts regularly. In order to help people from nearby places and outskirts, the department was also planning to introduce a system where commuters could travel in the city limits for free, by paying Rs 10 extra on the fare from their respective places to Bangalore city, the Minister said.
3,950 new buses
Ashok said that about 3,800 buses would be added to the fleets of all the four road transport corporations.
About 100 Volvo buses would be added in a month considering the demand for these buses from across the state.
“We have already placed the order and within a month these buses would be delivered to us,” he said, adding that the responsibility of maintenance of these buses would also be given to the Volvo company.
He said that the state had got maximum allocation of over Rs 120 crore under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for improvement of urban transport system.
About 700 buses would be purchased for Bangalore and 150 buses for Mysore city, he said.