Hyderabad: RTC driver Prabhakar Rao (name changed) was talking on a cellphone a few months back when the bus he was driving met with an accident.
There were no casualties and the driver was suspended. CCTV images from the bus proved that the driver was on the phone behind the wheel.
In another incident, a man snatched a gold chain from a woman passenger and got off a running bus. Alerted by the woman, the driver took the bus to a police station where cops saw the video footage.
Though the actual snatching was not seen in the footage, the police could identify the snatcher, a habitual offender. He was arrested within 24 hours and the gold chain was recovered.
Several eve-teasers were caught based on video footage. The CCTV cameras that were installed by TSRTC in about 1,300 buses a year ago have helped the police, the management and passengers in more ways than one.
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“The behaviour of drivers and conductors is monitored. They do not behave badly as it will be caught on camera. The security of passengers is ensured as the buses fitted with cameras are supported by vehicle monitoring technology," said RTC executive director A. Purushotham.
“Complaints of misbehaviour against women on camera-equipped buses have almost come down to zero as against one or two informal complaints made by women passengers to the driver or conductor earlier. It is written in bold letters in buses that they are under camera surveillance,” a driver of a camera-fitted bus said.
RTC’s traveller app will locate and track buses
Smartphone users will soon be able to track the location and expected arrival time of RTC buses. Two free apps developed by Tata Consultancy Services for TSRTC are likely to be launched on June 2, Telangana state formation day.
The first app will allow the user to know the location and expected arrival time of long-distance buses. The user has to type the service number to see the location of the bus and the expected time of arrival, said TSRTC executive director, IT, A. Purushotham.
The second app is for arrival timings of city buses and the time taken to travel from one destination to the other. The commuter would have to type the route on the app to get details of how many buses are expected in the next half-an-hour and the approximate time it would take to reach the destination.
“These are preliminary details. The procedure for using the apps would be made available after the launch,” a RTC official said. The apps would be applicable to the 1,800-odd buses which are fitted with the intelligent transport system.
