Source : The Hindu Date : 03.06.2009
3,500 buses to be added to government bus fleet
Staff Reporter
| ‘Bus Driving Simulator’ to impart training on driving techniques |
— PHOTO: R. M. RAJARATHINAM 
experience on spot: Transport Minister K.N. Nehru inaugurating the bus driving simulator installed for TNSTC trainee drivers in Tiruchi on Tuesday.
TIRUCHI: A state-of-the-art ‘Bus Driving Simulator’ to impart training on right driving techniques to trainees; enhance driving skills of serving government bus drivers, and evaluate their level of competence has been installed at the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (Kumbakonam), Limited, (TNSTC), Tiruchi Region office premises here.
Developed jointly by BEML Limited, a public sector undertaking, and Zen Technologies, the simulator has a bus cut-cabin mounted on a motion platform and equipped with all gauges, controls, transmission systems and indicators found in a bus.
A software has been specially developed to recreate the typical environment in which drivers operate. Costing Rs. 1.5 crore, the simulator provides a feel of driving conditions in city, hills, cross-country and snowy terrain under different lighting, climatic and traffic conditions.
Driving scenarios of different terrains, weather, vehicles and road conditions are projected on a screen by a high-definition projector and LCD screens are used for rear view, in the indoor training system.
The simulator has three main systems—Bus Driving Training Software, Instructor Station and Driver Station. The software has been designed especially for bus simulation. The instructor controls the driver training from the Instructor Station while the trainees occupy Driver Stations.
The Instructor Station enables the instructor to alter environmental conditions and keep track of all driving parameters besides communicating with the drivers. The trainees would undergo well-structured exercises aimed at transforming them into accomplished and safe drivers.
The simulator can record and replay the entire performance of each trainee and can generate different types of reports on customized parameters that can be saved. The drivers could be tested in different forms to evaluate their level of competence.
Inaugurating the facility at the TNSTC office here, the Transport Minister, K.N. Nehru, said such simulators had been installed at three other cities other than Tiruchi.
The move to install simulators was an effort not only aimed at enhancing the skills of the existing drivers but also have good drivers in place. Appealing to the drivers to remain cautious while driving, he said accidents not only affected them and their respective families but general public as well.
Instructions had been given to conduct counselling for bus drivers once in three months to ascertain their problems and take necessary steps to rectify them, Mr. Nehru said adding that necessary works were on to check accidents in spots identified as accident- prone.
The Minister said 20,000 buses were being operated every day with the number of bus travellers being around 2 crore.
He said 3,500 new buses would be acquired shortly to augment the government bus fleet adding Tamil Nadu had the maximum number of buses in operation in the country today. Mr. Nehru distributed cash awards to government bus drivers for accident-free driving.
Collector T. Soundiah, TNSTC (Kumbakonam), managing director R. Raju, Corporation Commissioner T.T. Balsamy and Mayor (in-charge) M. Anbazhagan offered their felicitations.
