Chandigarh engg dept gears up to build 139 smart bus shelters

Chandigarh: After several failed attempts previously the Chandigarh engineering department is renewing efforts to build 139 new shelters and repair 132 existing ones.

Of the 191 existing concrete ‘heritage’ shelters , 139 additional ones will be rebuilt and 52 repaired. The old concrete shelters were built after factoring in the architectural ethos of the city, and the administration has insisted on preserving the design and style.

The department has made four attempts so far to build the new shelters and repair the old ones, none of which have worked.“The successful bidder has to construct, repair, and maintain the shelters. The firm can generate revenues through selling advertisement space there. The company has to bear the construction cost and share the advertisement revenue with the administration,” said an official of the department who did not want to be named.

MC to get ad revenues

Advertisement revenues will go to the MC and licence fee to operate the shelters will go to the transport department.

An intelligent transport system (ITS) is crucial for a smart city like Chandigarh. “The transport department been pushing the engineering department to expedite the project, which has floated tenders now to build the shelters and to carry out the repair work,” said a senior union territory (UT) official.

Information hubs

Part of the ITS project, the smart bus queue shelters are to be used as information hubs for passengers using local Chandigarh Transport Union (CTU) buses. Digital information boards, dynamic and static, will be put up there to display live information on bus location, routes, arrival and departure timing, and bus ETA for a particular shelter.

Real-time information on buses will also be available on a mobile application. CTU services will be upgraded with IT-enabled solutions as well.

A primary control station will keep track of all buses though global positioning system (GPS) and monitor them under a planned system.

Bus depots will be linked to the primary control station via LAN connections and bus drivers will be provided with SMS facility to inform about their leaves that will be monitored by the central system of CTU.

“Significantly, even though the transport department was laying emphasis on construction/repair of around 80 shelters that are key to starting ITS, the engineering department went ahead with the overall project. It will take another at least nine months for the shelter work to get completed, and that also if any company gets the contract,” said the official.