Indian Express 12.11.2009
Global Positioning System installed in 100 CTU buses
After seven years of pending proposal and trials spanning over three months, the Global Positioning System (GPS) was finally installed in 100 Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) buses on Wednesday. This will be followed by the installation of Public Information System at 50 bus queue shelters in the city which will become operational by this month-end.
These systems will be placed on 16 of the busiest local routes on the grid system in the first phase and then extended to the entire fleet of local buses along with all queue shelters.
“After the successful trial of the GPS and PIS, these would be run on regular basis and become a part of the public transport system by the next month. These will be installed in the 100 new buses to be added to the fleet by December,” said CTU Director M L Sharma.
The GPS will be installed in 100 semi-low floor buses in the grid system which would provide information on the location of buses.
It will provide audio as well as visual inputs on the status of the bus and the approaching stops on the route.
It is similar to the one used in express trains, including Shatabdi Express, where prior to the approaching station, passengers are informed and alerted with an audio announcement.
Similarly, the PIS to be installed at 50 queue shelters will give only visual information about the buses. For instance, the bus of route number 7A will approach in five minutes. Of the 50 queue shelters, 44 have been identified in the city and three each at ISBT-17 and ISBT-43.
The ones at the ISBT-17 have already been installed at the local bus service side.
Earlier, there was an issue over the installation of electric meters at the queue shelters for the operation of the PIS screens. “The safety of the meters cannot be ensured all the time at the shelters. Thus, a standard electric bill of Rs 150 per shelter has been fixed,” said Sharma.
