Several bus stands in New Town will be converted into Wi-Fi-enabled “smart bus shelters” that will have boards displaying routes, real-time information on buses and the expected time of arrival of a bus, said an official of Hidco, which will build the facilities.
The shelters will also have cellphone charging points and snacks and newspaper counters.
There are two such bus stands near Nazrul Tirtha, which are equipped with brightly-lit information display boards and cellphone charging points.
However, some of the charging points no longer work. Two similar shelters have come up near the Aliah University campus in the township.
Around a dozen more will have similar facilities, said officials.
An official of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) said each bus stand would have two brightly lit electronic display boards that would give information about buses at regular intervals.
Apart from timings, the boards will mention the route of every bus that arrives so that even those who are new to the city knows which bus to board.
Each bus stop will also have a map of the area with a prominent marker displaying the exact location of the bus stop.
Most of the new buses in the transport department’s fleet have GPS-based live tracking units.
Based on the data of real-time movement of these buses, a software will generate information to be displayed at each bus stand.
The software takes into account the travel time of a bus and the nature of traffic congestion at various times and correlates the data with the real-time movement of the bus to work out an estimated time of arrival.
Residents and others, however, said that on most occasions the display boards at the bus stands near Nazrul Tirtha and Aliah University don’t work.