The state road transport corporation (KSRTC) will soon introduce real-time booking for inter-state and long-distance services. The facility will allow booking of ticket online from a boarding point other than the starting centre and destination if seats are available after the bus begins its service.
“We are introducing a new set of electronic ticket machines (ETMs) that would have the technology to alert headquarters about vacant seats on a running bus. If a person takes a ticket, that information will be sent to our central server from the ETM and we will come to know about the fare, stage, time, etc instantly. If the bus has any vacant seat, it will be shown on our website that already has the option to purchase tickets online,” administrative officer (budget) and in-charge of electronic data processing (EDP) centre K M Sreekumar said.
Once the system comes into effect, a passenger can reserve ticket from Kollam in a bus from Thiruvananthapuram to Ernakulam after checking the availability of vacant seats any time before the bus reaches Kollam.
The system is also expected to help in auditing the real-time collection in buses that would bring more accountability. Besides, the corporation will be able to get a clear picture of revenue, passenger density, punctuality of the particular bus, stages with maximum and minimum passengers, bunching of buses and the like.
The corporation also expects the system to aid in monitoring malpractices. “Incidents of employees manipulating daily fare collections entered in the computer system, tampering the fare chart in the master computer, making it impossible to transfer data from ticketing machines to the computer and then entering lower amounts of collection manually were reported recently. The instant data transfer system will put an end to such malpractices,” a senior officer from the vigilance wing said.
“Besides, it will give a clear picture of how many passengers with concession passes – KSRTC employees, retired employees, students, cancer patients, handicapped, mediapersons and others – really use the facility,” the officer said.
Tenders will be invited to purchase 4,000 ETMs soon and the corporation has earmarked Rs 4 crore for the purpose.
Source: Times Of India