Udhayanidhi launches bus stop announcement system on MTC buses

CHENNAI: Chepauk-Triplicane MLA Udhayanidhi Stalin on Saturday launched the GPS-based onboard bus stop announcement system on 150 Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses to announce upcoming bus stops in Tamil and English for passenger convenience.

After flagging off the bus fitted with GPS-based onboard bus stop announcement system at MTC’s Central depot on Pallavan Salai, Udhayanidhi along with Transport Minister SS Sivasankar, HR and CE minister PK Sekarbabu and Transport Department principal secretary Dr K Gopal travelled on the bus via Central, Broadway, Secretariat and Anna Square to experience the new audio announcement of the bus stops.

“Such announcement systems should be installed in all the buses for the benefit of the passengers, ” he told reporters after getting down at Anna Square.

The audio announcement of the upcoming bus stops was made both in Tamil and English 100 meters before the bus stop. For bus stops like Fort St George (Secretariat) and Anna Square, the announcement of the bus stops were made along with a brief description of the history of those places. Each of these buses will be fitted with six speakers (two each at the front, rear and middle), one GPS receiver, an antenna, and an audio amplifier. The advertisements would be played between the bus stops to generate revenue.

An MTC statement said that the bus stop announcement system was installed on 150 out of the 500 buses in the first phase. “MTC has floated bids to install on another 1000 buses, ” it added. It said that the announcement system would help the passengers to know the approaching bus stops and get off the bus without any hassle. “This audio announcement system will also help especially the visually challenged, senior citizens and people who are new to the city, ” it added.