BMTC ITS and Open Data
srinivas kodali
Shree D N
I have been a BMTC ITS app user, and I don't find this app adding any value to my daily commute to work and back. Many buses are not registered in the app. I have checked this personally. Unless the system is full-fledged and includes all buses, and the staff is educated enough to operate it (many buses have the equipment but that was dysfunctional for some reason) this is not going to help those keen on public transport. The data will not be great as many people would have got turned off by the non-helping nature of the app and the UI that's not very convenient to use. Feedback given to BMTC goes into a blackhole. I had high hopes on this app but it's such a turn off for me.
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srinivas kodali
Tejas AP
BMTC’s data-sharing plan on back burner
BENGALURU, OCTOBER 17, 2017 00:00 IST
There are more than 6,000 buses in the BMTC fleet.File Photo
Sources say interest within the organisation has waned of late
Almost a year and a half after the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) launched its Intelligent Transport Solution (ITS), a massive upgrade for the over 6,000-strong fleet, researchers and app developers are still waiting for the data that was promised.
A few months after the launch of the project in May 2016, BMTC began exploring the possibility of making real-time data gathered from the buses available to the public. With vehicle-tracking units, electronic ticketing machines and two-way communication with the bus and control room, a wealth of data is now available with the transport corporation, including bus location, speed and number of tickets sold, which could provide commuters with information like time of arrival, availability of space and estimated time of reaching the destination.
While the official BMTC app does offer data, developers believe that private apps can do a much better job on the user interface. With the BMTC also willing to share data and even framing a policy for the same, hopes were high that this would bring about a change to how over 52 lakh people commute on board city buses daily.
But a year later, there has not been much progress. According to sources, the interest in making this data public has also dropped within the organisation. With two changes at the helm of BMTC in the past few months and no public announcement on data sharing, the project seems to have moved to the back burner for the moment. While a policy has been drafted, it is awaiting government approval.
Data analysts and experts opine that BMTC wouldn’t be losing anything by making some of the data public immediately. While sharing real-time data might be a Herculean task, as the BMTC servers need to be shielded and the data protected, static updated data could be easily shared, experts say. “Information which is beneficial to commuters and will increase the number of people using BMTC services must be shared,” said urban transport expert Ashwin Mahesh.
The BMTC MD could not be reached for comment.
On Friday, August 5, 2016 at 6:27:12 AM UTC+5:30, srinivas kodali wrote:
I feared this would be the case and requested community to be part of the monitoring process at-least. Its a 90 crore project and people want to at-least be usable for some purpose. I have asked them 15 questions on every aspect of the project I know where things go wrong. I am hoping to file RTIs and also put pressure to at-least involve us now in the monitoring process.
Regards,Srinivas Kodali"Not everyone who wanders is lost, I am probably a bit"
On Fri, Aug 5, 2016 at 6:14 AM, Shree D N <shr...@oorvani.in> wrote:
Hi,
I have been a BMTC ITS app user, and I don't find this app adding any value to my daily commute to work and back. Many buses are not registered in the app. I have checked this personally. Unless the system is full-fledged and includes all buses, and the staff is educated enough to operate it (many buses have the equipment but that was dysfunctional for some reason) this is not going to help those keen on public transport. The data will not be great as many people would have got turned off by the non-helping nature of the app and the UI that's not very convenient to use. Feedback given to BMTC goes into a blackhole. I had high hopes on this app but it's such a turn off for me.- Shree
On 5 August 2016 at 06:04, srinivas kodali <iota....@gmail.com> wrote:
This is what we have been doing so far to engage with BMTC regarding its new ITS system and requesting them to host a public consultation regarding their data policy.Its been 2 months since the ITS system has been officially announced ready and according to the tender document, they would be carrying out Evaluation & Monitoring of the system. We have requested to be part of this monitoring process as we are interested in making sure the system works without any flaws.BMTC is spending 1-2 crore as maintenance every month, with appropriate open source tools we could bring it slightly down and also make sure it is working smoothly. We asked several questions regarding this and expected they answered us, unfortunately we might have to file RTIs as the response from BMTC has been thin so far.
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srinivas kodali
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Tejas Pande
Hey! I think it is a good idea to write to them. We should ask them for an update on their data dissemination policy and when they will open up their data under it. I am not sure it is going to win their trust if we tell them that we have all the data so they should release it, anyway. 😊
Also, does anyone have a read on the new BMTC MD – Mr. Ponnuraj? What is he like?
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