429 UPSRTC buses in Ghaziabad to be fitted with vehicle tracking devices

UPSRTC officials said the project is supported by central government’s Nirbhaya Fund and is aimed at addressing the issue of women safety on buses and also enhancing the travelling experience with the integration of technologies such as live tracking of buses

To make Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) buses more safer, especially for women passengers, a project for installation of vehicle location tracking devices (VLTD) has been initiated for about 5,000 buses across the state, including 429 in the Ghaziabad region.

UPSRTC said 5,000 buses across districts have been identified for being fitted with vehicle location tracking devices in the initial phase and these will be integrated with a main command centre in Lucknow and aided by 20 such regional centres. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

UPSRTC officials said the project is supported by central government’s Nirbhaya Fund and is aimed at addressing the issue of women safety on buses and also enhancing the travelling experience with the integration of technologies such as live tracking of buses.

The UPSRTC Ghaziabad region officials said 429 buses have been identified in the region and the installation has been completed in 286 buses, so far. The Ghaziabad region operates 967 buses in all.

“The installation of VLTD has been initiated and 286 of 429 buses in the region have been covered so far. The project has other components such as installation of panic button, integration of new vehicles which are fitted with these devices, and installation of LED display units at regional bus stations for passenger information etc,” said Kesri Nandan Chaudhary, regional manager, UPSRTC.

Since 2013, the Nirbhaya Fund is given to different state governments by the Centre to implement schemes related to women safety.

Officials said 5,000 UPSRTC buses have been identified for being fitted with VLTD in the initial phase and these will be integrated with a main command centre in Lucknow and aided by 20 such regional centres.

“Of the 5,000 buses, more than 1,000 have been fitted with the devices so far. The regional centre in Ghaziabad may come up in Kaushambi. It is likely that the installation gets completed by end of December or by January. The private bus operators operating with UPSRTC have also been asked to equip their buses with these devices,” Chaudhary said.

The UPSRTC Ghaziabad region buses operates out of bus stations such as ISBT Kaushambi, ISBT Anand Vihar and ISBT Kashmere Gate to different short and long distance destinations.