Bus really stops at the stop with this!

The Neosphere mentioned in psaram42's comment has nothing to do with Neosphere of Invisible Bus Bay.

Its mention here is inappropriate, inconsiderate, misleading, mischievous and reeks of ambush marketing.

Thank you, “do-it-yourself”, for pointing out the slip. I got the reference by Google search “Neospear”.  The Bangalore based one did not appear in the search. However it appears by clicking here. [1]

Please do take up the matter with Deccan herald. It would be more appropriate. 

But its success relies less on our proven technology and more on questionable administrative and implementation capabilities of some of the stake holders.

Exactly. Here is my experience with "Yelli Iddira?" as far back as in 2007. Technology can take things far, making for a more liveable world. But, that cannot happen as long as you have government monopolies (like BMTC), nurturing various vested interests, coming in the way.

The answer perhaps lies here, which you can't do yourself; you'll need to mobilise public opinion.

"The other thing that is really annoying is that busses stop at random places to pick up and drop people off. While this is perhaps acceptable late in the night during the day it can be extremely dangerous and annoying to other drivers - especially cyclists. Often the bus decides to stop immediately after a signal and end up blocking the road and getting other drivers quite annoyed." - rs

Random parking is never acceptable, especially if you are a commuter. And IBB will prevent any and every such wilful acts by bus drivers.

"I dont know how this IBB plans to tackle the annoyance of vehicles parked in the bus bays but it would be amazing if it all works out. A large number  of the jams are caused by this haphazard stopping of buses and illegal parking of vehicles." -rs

Our interactions with the majority of the commuters at the stops, during development, was an eyeopener. Their logic was that as long as the system is flexible, all people abuse it, other vehicles park at bus stops cos they know the drivers can park else where.

But If, because of IBB, the bus driver has to park exactly at the stop or passengers are going to be denied the service by an errant auto parked in the designated stop, then the commuters take charge and shoo them away. Evey one we spoke to was confident that over a period of time people learn to keep away from designated IBB areas.

"Complaints filed by these devices also will not be heard by BMTC bosses and management" - dvsquare

Deepak, IBB is not a monitoring tool. Its purpose is not to check where and which drivers skip stops and penalize them. This would be utterly useless.

IBB is an infallible enforcement tool. It prevents drivers from parking haphazardly at bus stops - period.

I understand your pessimism as it is well founded. But ignoring the fact that BMTC may or may not opt for IBB, your views based on my clarification would be welcome.

Deepak, I cannot answer the question 'How?' for obvious reasons. But suffice it to say that IBB does away with the drivers 'Adjust Maadi' attitude when it comes to parking at stops.

All your points are valid. And all attempts to train BMTC drivers or educate other road users about the need for the bus to park at the designated stops and near the kerb, or complain to BTP or BMTC failed. Since soft solutions won't work, we developed IBB.

In a scenario where the BMTC driver is helpless and is forced to park the bus exactly at the stop and near the kerb, all the other road users realise this and are forced to abstain from parking at such areas.

The major beneficiaries are the commuters who know the bus is going to come to where they are and they don't have to risk their lives trying to catch an errant bus.

Heard at DULT yesterday how the tech works, hope the pilot is sucessful! Hope "waivers" dont get abused in non emergency situation. Best wishes.

Srinidhi, we all agree that there are a lot of issues that need change. As a concerned citizen, I too would like to see a near utpoian situation.

But where I see IBB in the larger picture is not as a magic wand solution but as a resolute focal point around which several other issues can be aligned. That is where our knowlwdge bank will run dry and we really hope all the info and ideas at Praja will come into play.

It is not news that problem solving in India is difficult due to the very fact that they are all somehow interconnected and interdependent. And thus begins the 'tu tu, mai mai', 'who will bell the cat' game. Eventually nothing gets done satisfactorily.

For example, when ever there is a well intentioned discussion on Bus shelters (design, location, amenities etc) or kerb height or auto stand location or routing or erection of transformers and many such issues, the fluidity of the options is confusing and everybody ends up doing what they want.

Imagine a situation where a major player like BMTC says (considering all relevent issues) "THIS IS WHERE MY BUS STOPS". Now the rest of you start planning and building your amenities around this.

As for routing, may be your point that there are too many buses on a route converging at a stop at the same time is now ignored since it is not visible enough. If thru IBB, excessive buses at a stop cause obstruction, then maybe it will be evident and addressed.

Yes, there will be challenges, but should be a good starting point.

All your views on the bigger picture and the small role IBB may play to jumpstart it would be really beneficial.

Travelling includes city travel and more. [1]

When the corporation took over the Company in 1947, there were 242 buses in operation on 23 routes and these buses carried 238,000 passengers per day. At present, there are 4,680 buses^[2] carrying 480,000 passengers^[3] daily on 400+ routes. With the change in the name of the city from Bombay to Mumbai, the organization is now known as The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking [BEST] [2]

The conductor decides the stopping and starting of busses, not the driver. The driver is trained to stop at the scheduled bus stop. Here the device discussed will be handy. However in emergency the conductor has the authority to stop and or start the bus by ringing the bell. 

Also the bus stops have to be planned deligently, avoiding crowding, to best of my knowledge. 

OK. I wondered how BMTC agreed to do this. May be there was a minister connected middle man who wanted to route money from bmtc via the contractor route.

I looked up Mr. do-it-yourself.  Seems my kinda guy. Great innovation!

I really hope this works (I mean the whole (corrupt) system not the device).

Look out for BMTC, they dont intend to provide good service. I expect them to quietly shelve this. Except for the few helping to make this device to work with the system, others have already hatched a plan to neutralize any benefits. One benefit already, theyve managed to spend money on a problem they created in the first place and not improve the system by moving money away from where it is actually required.

do-it-yourself will get funding that he deserves but will put it to use in building may be a desi drone to spy on praja.in members when he is told that the IBB system "just does not work" because of the "system"

Maybe it will survive as a device to make passenger vehicles report to police every kilometer to pay a toll.

BMTC will work great eventually. By then we will have teleportation. Karnataka government will show off BMTC as a tourist attraction.