Track your bus with SMS
KOLKATA: The long wait at the bus stop could soon be a thing of the past. Soon, you’ll be able to track a bus — and see how far it is from your stop — by just sending an SMS. This unique interface will be launched in April by West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation (WBSTC). "We are working on introducing this hi-tech bus-passenger interface and vehicle tracking system in the city. We have been running this system for our internal use on a trial basis. It will be available to the public from next month. We’ll start with a pool of 500 buses," said a WBSTC official. More buses will be added in phases. All one would have to do is send an SMS to track a bus on a particular route. The system is already in place in Bangalore. "Kolkata will be the first city in eastern India to get it," officials said. WBSTC officials said the system would benefit passengers and operators alike. "Passengers can even find out exactly how far away a bus is. This will help them time their departure from home. They won’t have to wait under the sun. As for operators, they would know how many passengers are taking a bus on a particular route during the day. This would tell us which are the busiest routes and help us cut down on unnecessary expenditure," an official said. BSNL is currently mapping the entire city to come up with an automated SMS system. "Each bus route will have an auto generated number. A passenger would have to select a route and send an SMS to a number specified for that route. Within seconds, the passenger would receive an SMS with information on the location of the bus," said an official. WBSTC authorities are also planning to instal LED boards around the city. These would display different WBSTC routes and arrival and departure timings of the corporation’s buses from depots.
