A promotional campaign is on the anvil to popularise the Chalo app that was launched to keep track of 850 buses and ferries that operate in the Greater Kochi region, since just over 10,000 people have downloaded the app since its launch a month ago.
Sources associated with the initiative, spearheaded by the Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) and New Delhi-based Urban Mass Transit Company (UMTC), said the 850 buses in which GPS had been fitted would sport the app’s logo on the windscreen and interiors. The buses are members of seven bus companies. “All public transport buses can be brought within its purview only if GPS is installed in other private buses and the 400-odd KSRTC and KURTC buses that operate here,” they said.
The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has so far not responded to a proposal submitted by stakeholders. Similarly, private buses that operate from Ernakulam to other districts too are yet to join.
The Chalo app helps commuters keep track of buses and ferries, helping save time and money by planning their journey better. It will become a multi-modal journey planner app once 15,000 autorickshaws are brought under its ambit. The app can be integrated with KMRL’s Kochi-1 app which is set for launch later this year once GPS is fitted in all buses.
UMTA Act
Pointing to the alarming fall in number of private buses in Kerala from 35,000 a decade ago to 12,000 now, K.B. Suneer, convenor of Kochi Private Bus Operating Companies, an umbrella body of six bus companies, said he hoped that the State Assembly would pass the UMTA-Kochi Act as soon as possible so that public transport got a boost in the district. “There is a 25% fall in commuters in buses that operate along the Kochi metro corridor. The seven bus companies must come under one umbrella so that we are able to deliver better quality service to commuters,” said Mr. Suneer.