Mangalore: Private bus service in city fitted with GPS
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (EP)
Mangalore, Aug 11: V K Putran, secretary of the Dakshina Kannada bus owners' association has fixed GPS from August 10 for the Ramdev buses owned by him.
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is connected to the satellite and records its speed, routes and positions in the internet from time to time. Theft of the vehicle or its fuel can easily be detected with the help of GPS.
Over speeding, rash driving, accidents involving loss of life and property has become order of the day in buses. Arguments between the bus staff and the passengers are common. The people urge the officials for speed governors during transport adalat but the district administration has not taken the requests seriously.
The GPS fitted buses display internal colour signals when the vehicles are on the move viz green signal if it moves below 40 km per hour, blue if it runs between 40 to 60 km per hour and red signal if it runs beyond that speed. Besides that, the places where the bus stopped, the time of departure or arrival will also be known with the help of GPS.
Putran says that he has installed GPS in his buses only on his free will. If it is successful, he intends to bring it to the notice of the association and try to get GPS fitted in all 350 buses plying in the district.
The number of city buses surpasses that of government buses in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, while government buses are more in other parts of the state. There are instances of foreign teams who have come to study the operation of city, service and express buses in the area.
Bus workers had decided to strike work on the July 17 to highlight their grievances. The strike was called off after a compromise between the bus owners and the workers. Ivan D’ Souza, the president of bus workers' association said that the association has allowed three months for fulfillment of their demands and is sure of the bus owners agreeing to their demands. He welcomed the introduction of GPS in buses and said it is a good development in the interest of passengers, workers and their families.