GPS-GSM Integration for Enhancing Public Transportation Management Services

This paper proposes and implements a solution for enhancing public transportation management services based on GPS and GSM in Punjab province of Pakistan. The system consists of four modules: BUS Station Module, In-BUS Module, BASE Station Module and BUS Stop Module. Equipped with PC and GSM modem, BUS Station Module sends the initialization information containing the bus number and license plate number to In-BUS Module and BASE Station Module using SMS. The microcontroller based In-BUS Module consisting mainly of a GPS receiver and GSM modem then starts transmitting its location and number of passengers to BASE Station Module. BASE Station Module equipped with a microcontroller unit and GSM modems interfaced to PCs is designed to keep track record of every bus, processes user request about a particular bus location out of BUS Station and updates buses location on bus stops. BUS Stop Module is installed at every bus stop and consists of a GSM modem, memory unit and dot matrix display all interfaced to a microcontroller. This module receives buses location information coming towards that stop from BASE Station module and displays the information on a dot matrix display. A per stop statistical analysis is carried out based on the number of passengers and a recommendation report along with this analysis is sent to Punjab Government Transportation Department to have a check on the performance and services offered by transporters to common people. The results have shown that the developed system is useful for facilitating people using public transportation services.