SMS alert system on exact location of buses

State-run Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has introduced an SMS alert system to help commuters find out the exact location of the bus they wish to board.

The SMS service allows commuters to send messages to the master control room of BMTC, which tracks the buses through the Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) before dispatching a reply almost instantaneously.

The facility will help harried commuters waiting at the bus stop for the elusive bus, which could have been caught in a traffic jam. The SMS service will also help commuters find out the exact location of the bus they wish to travel by and schedule their arrival at the bus stop in time to catch the bus.

To avail oneself of the service, which has been appropriately named “Yelli Iddira” in Kannada, which means, “Where are you”, the commuters have to send an SMS message from the mobile phone to the master control room of BMTC, eliciting a reply on the exact location of the bus.

The SMS service is a brainchild of BMTC’s co-chairman of Commuter Comfort Task Force Muralidhar Rao. A Bangalore-based Information Technology (IT) company has designed the service, said a press statement issued by BMTC.

The service has initially been introduced on two Volvo routes, but will soon be expanded to cover the rest of the buses in Bangalore.