Adding to its cleanest city tag, Mysuru now has the distinction of having in place the most intelligent system to manage its buses ferrying commuters. Thanks to the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) that powers the state-run bus service, Mysureans now need not wait for long hours for the city bus.
Selected by the World Bank for the demonstration project in Sustainable Urban Transport Programme (SUTP), Mysuru city has equipped all its 500 buses, 105 bus shelters, 45 platforms and six bus terminals with ITS, leaving commuters on board smiling, since they no longer have to deal with uncertain waiting time.
“The benefit of ITS is that we know when the bus is arriving and departing. We are alerted while in the bus that we are arriving at our destination,” says Nagaveni Gowda, student at Maharani’s Science College.
Mysuru’s success with implementing a commuterfriendly ITS comes in the backdrop of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation having partially implemented it to oversee the movement of buses in the Silicon Valley of India.
Close to 3.5 lakh commuters take city buses daily in Mysuru, and the technology adoption has resulted in greater efficiency , enhancing ridership.
“Sustainable urban transport is the first requisite of a city growing smart and big.With ITS in place, Mysuru can rightfully claim Smart City status,” says Nupur Gupta, senior transport specialist at the World Bank.
The centrally-controlled and monitored real-time passenger information system provides the expected time of arrival (ETA) and expected time of departure (ETD) of buses, displayed on digital display boards placed at bus shelters. Commuters can also get information on their mobiles through SMS or interactive voice response system (IVRS).The information is also available on the commuter portal mitra.ksrtc.in. The mobile app MITRA-KSRTC has virtually changed commuting, and proved to be a powerful tool to plan bus journeys.
