The much awaited ‘Namma BMTC’ mobile application was launched by the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) on Monday as part of its Silver Jubilee celebrations.
Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy launched the application officially and said that BMTC has received funds from the Government of India under Nirbhaya Scheme for implementing the BMTC Mobile App with women safety feature, in-bus surveillance system in city buses, and Passenger Information System (PIS) at bus stops/stations.
According to BMTC officials, this initiative brings in an advanced mobile application that women commuters can use to seek remote assistance in case of an emergency, track movements of women passengers when support is sought by them, on-board cameras to monitor on-bus activities, panic buttons within busses for women passengers to seek remote assistance in situation of emergency and creating a centralised helpline for providing assistance during distress.
“For 5,000 buses, onboard devices, vehicle tracking devices to know the location of the buses installed, 5,000 panic buttons, 10,000 CCTV cameras, and a surveillance system has been installed and 500 Passenger Information System Boards for displaying estimated time of arrival and departure at a bus stand and stations have been installed,” Sathyavathi G., Managing Director of BMTC said.
The Namma BMTC Mobile App is now available in Android platform and iOS platform developed by M/s MCT Cards and Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Meanwhile, the BMTC in a release clarified that it has received Nirbhaya fund for 5,000 buses only. “The initiative will be only 75% of the total fleet strength. In this regard, of the total 6500 plus buses, 5000 buses will only be tracked in real time. However, action will be taken to track the remaining buses in near future,” a release stated.
