Monitoring buses using satellites

6 March 2011 02:05 pm

Satellite technology has been utilized to detect and control misdeeds committed by private bus drivers, the National Transport Commission (NTC) said.

The Government Information Department in a statement has quoted NTC Director Chandrasiri Weerasekara as saying that Global Positioning System (GPS) has already been used to detect buses that run at high speed and at unacceptable low speed, ignoring stipulated bus stops and unnecessarily stopping of buses at bus stops for long.

The movement of buses would be monitored by GPS technology to ascertain whether the buses run according to time tables and whether they follow the stipulated speed limits, the statement said, and added that movements of buses would be displayed on digital screens placed at monitoring centres.

The errant drivers would be instantly advised to follow rules over the satellite phones placed in the buses, according to the NTC.

Seventy buses plying between Colombo and several towns down south are already under the supervision of the new system and all long-distance bus services would be covered by the system by next year, the statement said.  (Daily Mirror)