CHENNAI: The Metropolitan Transport Corporation, Chennai, will soon be installing GPS-based speakers in 500 city buses which will announce details including the next bus stop for the benefit of passengers.
Official sources said six speakers (two each at front, rear and middle) will be fixed in each bus to announce forthcoming bus stops and the final destination. MTC has borrowed the idea from Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) for the Public Address System (PAS) project to boost their falling patronage.
The setup includes a GPS receiver, antenna and an audio amplifier along with speakers. Announcements will be made at least 200 to 300 metre before the bus approaches a halt.
"Though announcements will be made in Tamil, we have tried to use simpler English words wherever it is necessarry to avoid confusion. This setup will be of great help to passengers unfamiliar with city routes. They need not depend on other passengers in the bus to know when they will reach their destination," said a senior MTC official.
Tenders floated to install these devices were closed on January 29 (Friday) and work orders will be issued in a month or two after bid evaluation process. This is a 'no-cost project' for MTC. Successful bidder gets to pay a certain amount to MTC on a daily basis. In return, the bidder is allowed to play advertisements on the speakers in between announcements.
Welcoming the move, R Rengachari, a transportation activist said, "Instead of fixing them in all areas, MTC could choose only those buses which connect Chennai Central, Egmore Railway Stations, Meenambakkam Airport and Koyambedu Bus Stand, which are frequented by outsiders".
MTC currently has not finalised the list of bus routes along which the speakers will be fixed. Earlier, in December 2019, it had conducted a six-month trial run on 50 buses along routes such as 25G, 101 and 570 which connects areas like Poonamalle, Anna Square, Thiruvottiyur, Broadway and Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR).