Changing the face of Public Transport in Delhi

As a college student, I travel everyday to and from my college by bus. Last week when I heard that DTC buses will be fitted with GPS modules (read our earlier post to know what GPS is) and the info regarding arrival of a bus will be displayed on a screen at the bus stop, the news was welcomed by all because this will help DTC to improve their service and overall commuters' experience. Bus drivers will drive with more caution and responsibility because every movement of each bus will be monitored using satellite navigation system.

Since then, I have been thinking about what more can be done in addition to all this to make travelling by a DTC bus more technically rich and a simplified process.

I have come up with some ideas:

Live Bus Status Updates

Merely equipping buses with GPS chips wont do much good. They have to make good use of the data obtained. I think synchronising the GPS info with web servers so that people who subscribe for Bus Status Updates can see the position of desired route buses and plan their travel accordingly. Applications can be released for various mobile platforms wherein you can input your route of choice, a particular time you prefer and receive live updates along with traffic info(this is already being done but updates are few and generalised). For example, I travel to my college via route number 429 or 411 everyday at around 8 am. Sometimes I miss the bus that comes at that time or at other times I reach the stop early and wait for the bus. Using bus feeds, I can be told when a 429 or 411 is approaching my stop so that I can reach the stop and in case I miss that bus, I can be told of an alternate comprising of other bus routes which will help me reaching my destination on time. This might not feel helpful for a person who travels through the same bus route everyday as he'll already know the alternates but will definitely make the life of those who travel to different parts of the city everyday, easy. Just plan your travel via the app, and you are good to go with all the route info in your palm!

Information Kiosks

Another thing is putting up information kiosks at bus stops similar to railway stations. Railway stations have information kiosks which help the user know the train name and time between two given stations. Similar kiosks can be put up at bus stops so that people have reliable information about bus routes and they don't have to ask random people and end up in wrong buses wasting time and money. These kiosks can also help DTC earn ad-based revenue and recover costs.

Smart Cards using Radio Frequency Identification(RFID)

When we travel, we pay for kilometer categories, like Rs 5 for first 'x' kilometers, Rs 10 for next 'y' kilometers and so on.

Using RFID enabled smart cards and similar sensors in the bus, exact location of boarding and leaving the bus, of a particular card holder can be calculated and based on some tariff formula, money can be deducted. This way, you will be charged only for the kilometers that you have travelled. When the money runs out the smart card can be topped-up, in a way similar to prepaid mobile, according to usage instead of a fixed price for everyone.

I know implementing these ideas will require lot of money, time and careful planning but it is not at all impossible.

Changing the way people perceive public transport will make them leave their cars at home and opt for mass transportation which will lessen traffic as well as pollution in the city.