Jamshedpur: Tata Steel will gift a swanky bus terminus with GPS-enabled private town buses to the city in the New Year.
To be built on 2.5 acres in front of Sakchi Jama Masjid on Sakchi-Bistupur Road, the new terminus for 120 buses on 11 specified routes will boast manicured lawns, parking platforms, urinals and loo, cafeteria, passenger shed with seating arrangements and digital display boards showing real time locations of buses and their time of arrival.
Tata Steel chief of corporate services, Rituraj Sinha, said the terminus was likely to become operational in the last week of January.
"This will be the first such facility in the state wherein buses will be fitted with GPS-enabled devices (vehicle tracking system) to monitor their movement. Both the bus owners at the terminus and passengers will be able to see real-time locations of moving buses. The devices, which will have a sensor attached to them, will be installed by a private company in middle of January. The tracking system will send data about bus speed and alert us in case they stop at locations other than what has been fed in the system," a source in Tata Steel, who is looking after the bus terminus project, said.
Passenger convenience and safety will be enhanced as the GPS tracker will alert the control room in case of emergencies such as road blockades, traffic jams and fire.
"The driver can press a specific button and the sensor will pass the information to the control room during emergency situations. The owners of the bus at the control room will then issue an advisory to driver. Moreover, parents won't have to wait for long at the terminus to pick up their kids as the display boards will inform them about the estimated time of the buses and their current location," the official added.
Sanjay Pandey, secretary of Shikshit Berozgar Mini Bus Association, the outfit that co-ordinates the town bus service, sounded excited.
"We are excited to have such modern amenities. The new terminus is almost double in area than the existing one," he said.
