“Say if a person wants to know the arrival time of a particular transport service, this system will make all the details available online,” said a spokesperson for the RSTA.
The moment a bus departs from a particular destination, every check post and all RSTA base offices will have the number of passengers and the departure time online.
Computers with modem have been provided to all the 16 RSTA base offices and two check posts have been given computers. More check posts are to be equipped with computers.
The whole system is being set up with a fund of US$ 40,000 (about Nu.1.6 million), from the UNDP as a part of the e-governance project.
Although the reservation of tickets cannot be availed online, officials said that passengers could check the availability of bus tickets online.
According to RSTA officials, the e-ralies was found appropriate as other systems like the Global Positioning Information System (GPIS) and wireless were expensive.
At present mobile phones have been provided to bus drivers to track the movement of buses. “But we heard that drivers were using their phones while driving which they should not be doing,” he said.
The RSTA officials and traffic police are attending a week long training which began on June 11 to implement the new system.
An observer pointed out that while the new system was an advantage to those who had access to computers and those who knew how to use it, it may not make much of a difference to the illiterate who depend on the public transport service.
RSTA officials said that were 127 buses operating all over the country.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Kinga Dema
Quelle/Source: Kuensel Online, 14.06.2007
