Hyderabad Metro Rail MD N.V.S. Reddy on Friday said success of public transportation system depends upon safety and security of the feeder services and called for development of an innovative passenger safety app to deal with problems faced by commuters in general and women in particular.
He was addressing the first stage workshop titled ‘Technologies for Urban Transit to Enhance Mobility and Safe Accessibility (TUTEM)‘ at Metro Rail Bhavan, where delegates from BITS, Hyderabad campus; IIT-Bombay; and IIT-Kharagpur discussed the project to develop passenger safety app and related protocols being developed jointly under Mr. Reddy. It has bagged Asian Development Bank’s grant of ₹3.3 crore and had started work about six months ago.
The technical team started developing the app and it’s usability on both smart phones and ordinary phones following a preliminary survey of the passengers’ concerns and feedback regarding safety related issues in Hyderabad and Kolkata. The app will enable selection of safer feeder service routes, landmarks for easy navigation, pairing up of commuters for better security, speed dial facility for the distressed passenger to connect with police and any known persons to provide immediate support, etc.
Additional DGP (women safety wing) Shikha Goel explained the efforts of the Telangana police to make Hyderabad a safe city and promised full support from the department to make this much needed technology initiative a success.
She reiterated the importance of the safety app for giving confidence to women and other commuters regarding safe travel in public transport. Director, BITS Hyderabad campus Soumyo Mukherji; ADB representative Kaushal Sahu; P.Yogeeswari and Prasanta Sahu of BITS; Avijit Maji of IIT-Bombay; Arkopal Goswami and Shreyas Bharule of IIT-Kharagpur; and representatives of various organisations participated in the workshop, said a press release.
