Now, track Chandigarh Transport Undertaking buses live on mobile phone

Intelligent Transport System launched for 100 buses on 14 routes; entire fleet to be covered by year-end

Now commuters in the city will be able to track the movement of Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU)’s local fleet on their mobiles.

UT administrator VPS Badnore on Friday launched the Intelligent Transport System (ITS), as part of which a mobile application, “trycityBUS”, has also been made available to commuters. By downloading it, they can get information about timings, fare and routes of buses besides location of nearby bus stops. They can know the exact location and timings of the buses and alternative routes available for their travel.

In the first phase, the ITS has been introduced in 100 buses covering 14 routes. CTU plans to cover the entire fleet of 350 buses on 64 routes by the end of the year.

₹25-CRORE PROJECT

The World Bank-sponsored project, costing the administration around ₹25 crore, aims to modernise the transport system, wherein CTU services have been upgraded with IT-enabled solutions.

There will be four cameras inside each bus to monitor the behaviour of the crew and passengers. The fleet will be monitored in the Central Control Room of CTU though global positioning system.

An emergency button (panic button) will be available, both for the driver and the passengers to solicit urgent help from the police and ambulance, if needed. The digital system will enable the administration to monitor the exact location of buses, collection of revenue and the load of passengers on each route.

There will be digital display of the timings of the buses at each bus queue shelter. Passenger’s information display screens have also been installed at Inter-State Bus Terminals (ISBT) in Sectors 17 and 43, railway station and 12 other bus queue shelters in different locations.

“It is a big step for the tricity’s public transport system. It will attract more commuters to public transport and help reduce traffic congestion. We will be integrating the entire CTU fleet of local buses with the ITS by the end of the year,” said Uma Shankar Gupta, director, transport.

After the work on both the software and hardware components of the system was completed in early March, the final trials were started. The trials were to be completed by March 18, and the system was to be launched on April 1. However, the Covid-19 lockdown delayed the trials and launch.