The ambitious plan to put nearly 100 Vallabhipur Transportation Cooperative Society (VTCOS) Pvt Ltd buses under the Global Positioning System (GPS) may not be implemented in the near future. The company has detected some technical problems in the system installed in two of the buses.
As many as 100 VTCOS buses are plying on Vadodara roads, including the fleet of 75 2x1 seating buses and 21 2x2 seating buses. These buses were introduced recently by the company on the long routes to ease passenger flow.
Narendra Rana, VTCOS, Vadodara manager, said: "We plan to put each and every bus under the GPS. The pilot project has already been initiated on two buses running between Tarsali and Station. But apparently there is some technical problem. The positioning of these buses is not giving correct data to the headquarter. We will not be able to install the system in the remaining buses unless the technical snag is fixed."
Rana said that once the GPS is installed in all the 100 buses, it will give several important inputs that will help them in improving the system. "Our major concern is following the time schedule because that is one area where any bus operator is most likely to get complains from the commuters. We would like each and every bus on the road to reach at different stoppages at the scheduled time. Once the GPS is installed, we would be able to know which bus is located where at what time," Rana said. On the other hand, commuters feel that such an upgraded bus service will be a lot more than what they expect from the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC). "I have been travelling from Kothi to Gokul Nagar for almost a decade now. Considering the pathetic bus services the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation used to offer, the services we are getting now are beyond our expectation. If VTCOS is successful in connecting each bus with GPS and improve the time schedule, it will be like a dream come true for daily commuters like me," said Jayanti Panchal, a Government employee.