Bus group adopts tracking system

A BUS group on the Edsa route is adopting the global positioning system to track its rolling stocks.

Madelene Guillermo, Mega Manila Operators and Drivers Alliance president, said the upgrade would enable them to maximize fuel efficiency, help prevent traffic accidents and make the transport business viable.

“We continue to look for ways to improve our operations,” she told Standard Today.

Guillermo said her three bus firms—Everlasting Trans Co., Guardian Angels Busline and Universal Guiding Star Busline—would use GPS to record the units’ exact location, date, time, speed and direction and even monitor robbery-holdup incidents.

The 24-hour GPS has a built-in capability to immobilize the bus, she said.

“We can stop the engine operation of our bus on the road if the driver continues to ignore our warnings.”

Guillermo said an automatic alert from the company’s central office is sent once a bus exceeded 80-kilometer per hour speed limit on major city roads.

Real-time information is transmitted via the cell network to a computer every three minutes, she added.

The technology is connected to a radio system allowing the office-based monitoring team to issue warnings, she said.

Guillermo said she and her husband Ed could monitor their transport business even while they were on vacation.

The system also allows the central office to record on-board conversations which could be helpful in police investigations of accidents and robberies.

“We can call up the nearest police station once information of a planned robbery enters our communication line,” Guillermo said, noting that her group was among the first to use the hand-held ticketing device recommended by transport regulators. –Rio N. Araja, Manila Standard Today