GPS helps trace missing BMTC bus

GPS helps trace missing BMTC bus
The BMTC Has 1,000 Buses Fitted With Mechanism
The Times of India

Bangalore: This last week, when the driver of a Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) vehicle parked his bus — KA 04 A-3592 — at the Majestic bus terminus, neither did the driver think it will be stolen nor did the thief who stole it would have thought it will be traced out, so soon.

Kudos to the GPS gizmo, a few hours and the GPS (Global Positioning System) device were all that was needed to locate the bus.

When the driver of A-3592 returned to the bus at 11 pm after a 30-minute dinner, the huge Parisara Vahini had vamooshed. An entire bus was missing. A complaint was registered with the Upparpet police station.

The next morning the bus was traced at a desolate corner at Mathikere. No thanks to the police. The ‘missing’ bus had been equipped with a GPS device, fitted just above the driver’s seat which gave out signals within hours the personnel at the control room keyed in the pertinent number.

BMTC officials explain that it could have become a liability because the bus was on a contract. As chief executive officer A M Nadaf of Amarnath Motor Owners Association, the agency which had a contract with BMTC says, “just after the complaint was registered, we alerted the control room. Within hours it was beeping loud and clear, the location was screaming on the screen. When we found the bus, the GPS device had been removed from its location and discarded on the driver’s seat, the miscreants probably thought it was a radio or two-in-one and threw it. But some 65 litres of diesel had been siphoned off.’’

For its part, the BMTC has 1000 buses fitted with GPS, in its fleet strength of 4000 buses. “Often we get complaints from commuters that a particular driver does not park in front of the bus-stand or that they speed excessively or even don’t stop at the stops they are required to. The GPS helps us address these problems but this is the first time it has been used actively’’ explain BMTC officials. But police are baffled why anybody would want to lift an entire bus away just to pilfer some fuel. They also contend that this is the first time something that’s gone missing has been traced with GPS.

The GPS gizmo helped trace out the bus, will the police need another GPS to trace out the culprits?