By Dec, info on vessels & trams to be incorporated in Pathadisha

After immense success of Pathadisha app that shows real-time location of state-run buses, the state Transport department has decided to replicate the same details and information in case of vessels in the inland waterways sector and trams which will be made available as a cell phone app before this winter.

Suvendu Adhkari, the state Transport minister, said: "We have decided to make the information available about vessels and trams in the Pathadisha app before December. At the same time, information about all the buses will also be made available before Durga Puja. The work, in this regard, will be completed before December this year as planned."

Using the app, one can easily find the real-time location of a bus run by the West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) that he or she is waiting for at a particular point in and around the city. The service was introduced with information of as many as 700 state-run buses and before Durga Puja information on more 300 buses of WBTC will be made available in the app.

With a deadline of incorporating vessels and trams in the app, the concerned officials have started taking the necessary steps. According to a senior officer of the WBTC, similar technology will be used to bring in the vessels and trams as it was used in the state-run buses to make their real-time location available in the app.

At present, around 30 vessels operate in and around Kolkata to transit people across river Hooghly. Similarly, around 80 trams operate on different routes everyday in the city. The real-time location of these vessels and trams will be available in the Pathadisha app and it will be of great help for the commuters.

Hundreds of people from other states and abroad visit the city in winter. Thus, the decision to complete the task by December will be helpful to them as they can easily search for the vehicles without approaching anyone to get information.

Trams are a major tourist attraction in the city and the decision to make the real-time location of trams available in the Pathadisha app will help the tourists besides the daily commuters.

Till date, a total of 61,000 downloads of the app has been recorded and it is being considered that the figure would become double after real-time location of vessels and trams are made available. Thousands of people use the vessel service everyday to go across the river Hooghly. Mainly during the morning and evening rush hours, a large section of commuters who arrive at Howrah station from districts use the service to reach the central business district.