Karwar: Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has purchased 12,000 new GPS-based electronic ticketing machines (ETM) for the conductors of its three transport corporations. With the help of these ETMs, officers can now get information on the bus movement, on their desks itself.

The ETMs have been developed by Bengaluru-based Quantum Aeon company and already, 2,100 conductors under North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) have got these machines. The GPS fitted in these machines will, in turn, be connected to online servers and this task in presently in progress. “The ETMs with GPS will be connected to the depots, divisions and main offices through satellite. It will help in knowing how far is the bus from the bus station, the number of hours the bus has spent on the road and other related information. The higher officials can track all this information from their office itself”, said an officer working with NWKRTC.

The officer said that in days to come, bus passengers (public) can also get to know the running status of the bus like trains now.

The officer explains that seats vacant in the bus after online reservations are done are generally allotted by conductors to needy passengers on the spot. But this seat allotment does not show online. There have been many instances where passengers check the availability of seats online and then come to the bus stand to get spot ticket and board the bus only to find that the seats are no more vacant. The new ETMs will help in checking such flaws in the system.

But, the officer adds that it would take some time for this system to become fully functional.

NWKRTC Karwar Depot Manager Tushar said that Uttara Kannada district comprises forest and hilly areas. Sometimes, the buses break down in the forest areas or remote villages. In such cases, the GPS will help the depot personnel to locate the bus so that necessary assistance can be provided.