TITLE
e-BusGuide: An IT-based Approach  to Improve the  Profitability of  Bus 
Transportation Systems in India

AUTHOR
P.Krishna Reddy
International Institute of Information Technology
Gachibowli, Hyderabad-50009

JOURNAL
IETE Technical Review, Vol. 22, No. 5, September-October 2005, pp. 351-355.

ABSTRCAT
One of the problems  faced by Bus Transport Systems in India  is low occupancy rate.  
Efforts are being made by Bus Transport Corporations to improve bus occupancy by 
requesting the public to use buses over other   modes of transport. One of the 
reasons for low occupancy is that a passenger normally does not know the bus 
scheduling information,  and  bus-arrival timing information to bus-stops.  
Trends in wireless technology have resulted in most of the passengers  owning  
mobile phones.  We believe that by providing  reliable bus-route and real-time bus 
arrival information to passengers’ mobile  phones, it is possible to improve the bus 
occupancy.  In this paper we propose  an architecture of   IT-based Bus Information 
System (called “eBusGuide”)  which aims to improve the bus-occupancy by providing  bus-route 
and arrival information to passengers in a timely manner. The proposed system can be built using 
available  Internet/Web technology and messaging service provided by mobile phones.  
The profitability computation by considering the case of  local bus transport system in  
Hyderabad (India) shows that   it is possible to double the profitability, even 
eBusGuide attracts one percent more passengers.  In addition, with eBusGuide, it is  
possible  to improve the quality of  bus-service,  work culture,   passenger  satisfaction, 
environment and  profitability of  tourism department.