Soon,sensors to track bus breakdowns

The Delhi Cabinet has already allowed induction of standard floor buses on the 17 clusters that are to be operational in the city.

The sensors will be a part of the Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL),which is being run by the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) for the government.

The AVL was originally meant to track every bus in the city run by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and private firms in real-time to allow commuters plan their journey in advance. The DIMTS is already running a pilot project on 121 low-floor buses plying along the BRT corridor. Under this,the status of the arrival of a bus is displayed on LED screens installed on the bus Q-shelters.

This information is also available on the Internet; here,commuters can locate a bus and check the time it would arrive at the desired bus stop.

“The concept is being extended to putting sensors on buses which will be monitored as part of the system. Officers and engineers at a bus depot will have access to information well in advance. This way,they can get ready

to tackle the problem while the bus is on its way to the depot for repair and thus save time,” said a senior government official.

Every trip and time lapsed between them is being carefully monitored to ensure timely services,the official added. The system was designed to keep a vigil on drivers skipping bus stops or not completing trips and curbing loss of revenue faced by the DTC.

As part of the system,GPS-enabled buses will be part of a network called Closed Area Network (CAN). “While the system will be introduced on buses under the private cluster,plans are also afoot to have it installed on 5,000 buses before the Commonwealth Games,” the official said.

Fire effect

* Move comes after several incidents of fire in low-floor buses

* 5,000 buses to be equipped with the system before Games