Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation or UPSRTC is now emphasizing highly on technology. A whopping 9, 000 passenger buses have now got Vehicle Tracking Systems or VTS in the state.
The UPSRTC has now installed these systems in a record number of buses and 525 buses in Agra, alone, will be enabled with this new technological system. This will help real time monitoring of these buses as per department officials. The corporation is also working on the modernization of bus depots and is making new changes to benefit passengers. The UPSRTC has an operational presence across 2, 405 routes and approximately 1.3 million commuters are ferried by it daily from a whopping 323 bus stations that collectively span 30 lakh kilometres.
According to the service manager for the Agra region, the VTS technology enables greater efficiency in fleet management and offers online access to vehicle speeds, positions, accidents, breakdowns and more. Decisions can be passed and made from the command system that comes with big screens and computers. The Lucknow command system will be linked o local centers through WhatsApp and similar communication outlets. This system will also help in monitoring emergencies better according to officials along with late trips, routes, missed trips, tyres, losses, casualties, improper stops, driver behavior, route deviation, speed violations and so on. Drivers can be instructed through their smartphones.
This new system will help improve bus services and boost commuter security greatly. Road accident victims can be rescued faster and new public ideas can also be shared seamlessly. Commuter complaints can be addressed that much faster by the corporation and text and audio messages along with videos of commuter inconvenience and driver/conductor misbehavior will be shared on a specified WhatsApp number (9415049606) and these will be displayed on a giant screen at the control center to facilitate quick action. State Bank of India has collaborated with the corporation for this project and has offered multipurpose cards as alternatives to tickets for passengers. These can be used for purchasing state bus tickets and also as debit cards for shopping and purchases. The corporation offers 20% more value on smart cards, thereby translating into a gain of INR 100 for every INR 500.