Chandigarh collects data to avoid overlapping of route buses

Dushyant Singh Pundir

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Chandigarh, April 15

With an aim to avoid overlapping of buses on various routes across the tricity that often leads to buses ferrying with low occupancy, and to build an easily usable network, the UT Transport Department has started collecting the data of frequency of buses and occupancy which would be further analysed to provide a better transportation to commuters.

A senior official of the department said they were collecting and studying the data sourced from the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). He said they were studying the frequency of buses, availability of passengers on a particular route and the number of passengers travelling at any given time in a bus on that route. He said it would take a few months to complete and implement the project. It would not only help in preventing bunching of buses on one route, but at the same time help in streamlining the routes and providing better service to the public, he said.

Giving an example of overlapping of buses, he said suppose a bus each from the PGIMER, ISBT-17 or Mohali has to reach Panchkula and these all are travelling through Madhya Marg to reach the final destination. In such a scenario, three buses would be plying simultaneously on one route. To avoid such a situation, data collected from the ITS was being studied to prepare route plans so that all three buses reach the final destination from three different routes, he said, added that it would not only decongest the road, but also give more options to passengers waiting on other routes. The bus coming from Mohali could be diverted through sectors to reach Panchkula, he said.

With the launch of ITS, commuters can now get real-time information on movement of buses and timings of their arrival and departure. The project has been implemented on 358 buses of the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) running on 59 routes in the tricity.

The then UT Administrator, VP Singh Badnore, had launched the state-of-the-art command control centre to monitor the city bus operations in real time and a smart card under the ITS. The control centre has been constructed at the ISBT-43.

Commuters are now able to live-track buses en route. The expected time of arrival/departure will be displayed at terminals, bus queue shelters and at commuter locations through mobile app/web.

Commuters are also able to use a journey planner through the mobile app, which also displays bus route and schedule.

A grievance redressal management system (GRMS) is inbuilt in the app. Live feed of the in-bus CCTV cameras for improving the security of commuters is also part of the ITS system.

Move also aimed at decongesting roads

To avoid two or three buses plying simultaneously on one route, data collected from the ITS is being studied to prepare route plans so that all these buses reach the final destination from different routes, an official said, adding that it would not only decongest the road but also give more options to passengers waiting on other routes.