Why you can't track BMTC buses

With the live location tracking system no longer functional, commuters await the new intelligent transport system while crowdsourcing bus routes and live locations

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) launched the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) in 2016 with a big fanfare.

Six years down the line, BMTC passengers are struggling with no system to know where the bus is at a given point of time, while e-ticketing system BMTC had has gone for a toss in most of the buses inconveniencing the commuters. The ITS initiatives, like GPS tracking for all buses, a mobile app with real-time info on route timings and an electronic ticketing system, do not exist today.

The lack of real-time information about the arrival and departure of city buses are one of the major reasons that people have switched over to owning vehicles, autorickshaws or cabs even today. A quick check by DH found that the GPS equipment required for the ITS was installed in some of the Volvo buses.

The BMTC was successful with its ETMs introduced on most buses. Like an ATM, the machines generated a ticket with information on the start and end points of the journey, time and fare. Today, most buses have gone back to the old paper-based ticketing system. A conductor, preferring anonymity, said the BMTC has to fix this problem first and later focus on other things. He had no idea when the new ITS would be launched.

In the previous ITS system, the buses had an audio-visual display where each and every stop was announced in Kannada and English. This proved helpful for the commuters, but today this also does not exist.

The LCD boards, installed at major bus stands to provide information on the arrival and departure of the buses, are either put to partial use or are defunct totally. At Banashankari Tertiary Traffic Management Centre, these boards display information on buses with some advertisements even today. However, it is not real-time.

People try to track buses

Rahul Subramaniam, a software engineer working in the city, says that he was a user of the location tracker app launched in 2016, which was functional until 2020. “It was useful for students and other tech-savvy commuters to know where the bus was on the route,” he adds.

Once this system stopped working, commuters dependent on it were left in the lurch. In July 2022, he and like-minded people formed an informal Telegram group ‘Friends of BMTC’. Amogh A, a second-year engineering student, diligently updates the group on the live location of the bus he is in, at every stop. Like him, many other commuters share information on bus routes and connecting metro routes.

Vikram Shetty, a Yelahanka resident, says that the crowdsourced information from an app called Moovit helps commuters figure out bus routes and combinations of Metro and BMTC buses. Again, this is not real-time, as data is sourced from commuters on its web interface, to provide an approximate timing.

He adds that the BMTC can use the Tummoc app used for e-passes, as a proxy in order to track locations as an alternative to the GPS-based tracking system, where the apps in the mobiles of conductors and passengers can be used to track the location. This app is popular among commuters, with the daily e-pass user count for September being 73,236, while its monthly e-pass user count was 26,402, as informed by a BMTC official.

‘Real-time data important’

Shaheen, co-convener of Bus Prayanikara Vedike, a forum which is working for the promotion of BMTC bus usage among commuters, says: “ITS is a good system. If implemented well, it can attract new people to use public transport. It has been delayed for one or another reason.”

She says people should get information on buses available to go to the destinations of their choice. “The buses have to be the priority for the government too. The ticket fares have to be decreased, bus priority lanes should be effectively implemented on prominent roads and there should be last-mile connectivity. The scheduling of bus services will surely improve if the ITS is implemented well.”

According to Shaheen, the idea of public transport, in view of ITS, should be reimagined and made more passenger-friendly. “ITS can certainly make public transport the best option given that it includes an app, reliable real-time data and good service. Also, each bus stop should have displays of bus arrival/departure boards,” she adds.

(With inputs from Shree D N)