BMTC’s proposed innovation team to use existing data to improve efficiency

From monitoring the movement of buses to understanding passenger demand on every route, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has no dearth of data, thanks to its Intelligent Transport System (ITS). When it comes to making use of these figures for an effective administration, however, the transport utility scores low.

The soon-to-be formed in-house innovation team is meant to remedy the situation. “Though ITS technology was generating a lot of data, there was not enough capacity to analyse it. With the formation of a dedicated team, we want to use these figures before taking decisions,“ V Ponnuraj, managing director, BMTC, said.

Over the past four years, the transport utility has invested Rs 79 crore to build the ITS technology , which includes GPS-based vehicle tracking system, mobile application project, collection of operational data and electronic ticketing system.