THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Five months to its inauguration, the integrated route numbering system for public transport buses is yet to be to be implemented in the district. The project, which claimed to remove language barrier in the public transport system operating in the district, still remains on paper as there is no fund to implement it.
Designed by the students of department of management studies (DMS) of Kannur University, the project – Unique Numbering System for Bus Routes (UNSBR) – uses only alphanumeric characters indicating the route of the buses. The then district collector Biju Prabhakar had approached DMS students to implement the project in the city after evaluating its success at Kannur and Kozhikode.
But after the initial hype, the project is on a standstill as KSRTC could not find funds to make the boards required for the system. Around 3,000 boards are needed for the 1,000 odd KSRTC buses plying in the district. The board to be made with aluminium composite panel (ACP) will cost Rs 330 each and has a warranty of three years.
“The cost of making new boards is estimated at Rs 15 lakh. Earlier, the plan was to implement the project in association with tourism department, which received funds for the research not implementation as KSRTC is not in a situation to fund that amount. But that joint project also didn’t take off,” said a KSRTC official.
Now, the KSRTC officials have laid all hopes on a proposal submitted to SBT for financial support based on advertising. As per the proposal, the material will be provided by KSRTC while SBT will meet the expenses for writing the board in the prescribed format.
