Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation passengers in Mysuru can now travel with a little more ease. The State’s first observation camera-enabled buses will hit the roads in Mysuru on Thursday.
Five such buses will run on a trial basis on the core routes for about a month, and field-level officers of the KSRTC will monitor their performance. Of the 93 buses sanctioned for intra-city operations under the JNNURM, five were delivered recently, and five more are expected to be added to the fleet by Saturday.
KSRTC Divisional Controller (Mysuru Urban) H.M. Ramesh told The Hindu that the ‘feature-rich’ buses will certainly enhance the safety of commuters as each bus has been fitted with two cameras — one near the driver’s seat and the other in the middle — to capture passenger movement.
They work as remote surveillance for commuter safety.
Since the buses have been specially manufactured to enable the Intelligent Transport System (ITS), which was introduced for the first time in the country in Mysuru two years ago, the live footage from the cameras will be monitored at the ITS control room, he said.
Mr. Ramesh said the buses had been manufactured by the Dharwad plant of Tata Motors as per the specifications from the Centre, giving top priority to passenger safety.
Each bus costs about Rs. 32 lakh, and two cameras and the ITS network system alone costs around Rs. 5 lakh, he said.
