Latest news with #KadambaTransportCorporation
Time of India
6 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Revenue of KTC Smart City e-buses stands 1.5 crore lower than projected
Porvorim: Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC) has reported a significant revenue shortfall from its Smart City electric bus operations in Panaji. Against the projected revenue of Rs 3.4 crore for the fiscal year 2024-25, the actual earnings between July 2024 and March 2025 stood at approximately Rs 1.9 crore. The revenue gap is Rs 1.5 crore. Minister for transport Mauvin Godinho said, 'The shortfall in revenue is primarily attributed to the continued operation of private bus operators providing city bus services in Panaji, which has impacted the ridership on Smart City electric buses.' Godinho was replying to a question tabled by MLA Viresh Borkar. A total of 48 Smart City EVs are currently operating in Panaji and the surrounding areas. These buses ply on seven designated routes: yellow, red, indigo, blue, green, orange, and violet. In all, 18 lakh passengers travelled by these electric buses from July 2024 to March 2025, covering 11 lakh km in this duration. 'The concept of Smart City buses was to operate without conductors, for which pole-mounted validators were fixed for tapping the Smart Transit Card or validating the QR code generated on an app,' Godinho said. 'However, commuters were hesitant to use Smart City buses, adapting to the new system,' he said. The minister reiterated that private bus operations further impacted the ridership numbers.
Time of India
02-08-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Curchorem to get modern Rs 40cr KTC bus stand: Godinho
Porvorim: Govt has accorded administrative approval for the construction of a modern Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC) bus stand at Curchorem, estimated to cost over Rs 40 crore, transport minister Mauvin Godinho said. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now In his reply to an unstarred question by Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral, Godinho said the proposal will be placed before the expenditure finance committee (EFC) for final approval. The project has already secured necessary statutory clearances, with govt paying an infrastructure tax of Rs 38 lakh to the town and country planning department. However, the exact timeline for the project remains uncertain. 'Since the project is not yet tendered, the date of commencement and completion of construction is not finalised,' he said in the written reply. In response to concerns about fewer KTC buses between Curchorem and Margao, the minister said that no inconvenience has been reported from commuters over the issue. He said that KTC currently operates three direct shuttle buses on that route, making around 34 trips daily. Godinho said that more services will be introduced once electric buses arrive. KTCL floated an e-tender in April 2025 for 50 AC electric buses, with technical evaluation of bidders under way. The selected bidder will build charging infrastructure for these new buses near the KTCL depot in Porvorim. KTCL will not incur any capital expenditure for charging infrastructure and maintenance depot. While a smart ticketing system is already operational, a dedicated mobile app for KTCL services is under development, Godinho added. He further said that govt's Mhaji Bus Yojana is currently processing applications from private operators interested in serving routes through Curchorem and other areas.
Time of India
17-06-2025
- Time of India
UPI trail leads Ponda cops to killer of B'luru woman
Ponda: Although payments through Unified Payments Interface (UPI) gateways are common in India, one transaction held special significance for the Ponda police — it helped them track down the accused in a blind murder case. A young woman was murdered inside Dharbandora forest on Monday, but for days, the cops had no leads. Eventually, the breakthrough was provided by the woman's method of payment for bus fare. The victim, Roshani Mosses, 22, a resident of Bengaluru, had paid the fare for the trip aboard a Kadamba Transport Corporation bus from Bengaluru to Dharbandora using the UPI mode. Through the bus ticket found near the body of Mosses, Ponda police got her mobile number. The call details led police to the alleged accused, Sanjay Kevin M, 22, also from Bengaluru. When police tracked Kevin's number, it was found operational in Hubballi, Karnataka. 'Ponda police formed a team led by police sub-inspector Ashish Velip, which went to Hubballi and nabbed Kevin with the help of local police,' said South Goa superintendent of police Tikam Singh Verma. Mosses and Kevin had been in a relationship for the past five years, police said. Kevin brought her to Goa, alighted from the bus at Piliem, took her to Pratapnagar's dense forest area, murdered her, and fled to Hubballi, Verma told the media. Ponda police said Kevin hired a taxi from Usgao and went to Hubballi. After reaching Hubballi he had no money, so he contacted his family to ask for a ride back home. When he was waiting for the ride, Ponda police nabbed him and brought him to Goa. Kevin has confessed to committing the murder, police said. A souring relationship could be the motive, police said. However, no murder weapon was found at the crime scene. Ponda police said because Kevin is in their custody, they could recover the weapon. The accused has been remanded by a Ponda court in seven days of police custody. On Monday morning, Mosses' body was found in the jungle. Her throat had been slit.
Time of India
08-06-2025
- Time of India
PSIs wearing body cams authorised to issue traffic challans
Panaji: With road accidents rising over the past two months, state govt on Saturday decided to allow police sub-inspectors (PSIs) with body-worn cameras to challan traffic violators during the daytime. In April, PSIs were allowed to challan traffic violators at nighttime. 'We will immediately implement the decision to allow PSIs to challan traffic violators during daytime,' DGP Alok Kumar told TOI . PIs were empowered to issue challans for traffic violations during daytime. During the night hours, along with PIs, PSIs were entrusted with the task. Chief minister Pramod Sawant held a review meeting on Friday with Goa police. During the meeting, Goa police apprised the chief minister of the sharp rise in accidents. Police explained to the chief minister that since there was no police presence on the road, there was no fear among the commuters, and they drove in a rash and negligent manner, which resulted in an increase in road accidents, including fatal ones. After going through the presentation of Goa police, Sawant granted permission to the force to allow PSIs to issue challans to traffic violators during the daytime. Sawant made the decision after receiving several complaints regarding harassment from police personnel, especially against those deployed for traffic management and from lower ranks. 'I announced that during daytime, only PIs with body cameras will issue challans, and at night, only PSIs and PIs wearing body cameras will be empowered to do so,' Sawant said. 'Besides PIs and PSIs, no other police personnel can issue challans.' State govt has finalised a private player to implement the Traffic Sentinel Scheme in a new avatar on a public-private partnership model. The private player will give 60.5% of the revenue — collected through fines from traffic violators — to state govt. Mistotex Technology Pvt Ltd has been picked to implement the project. All the infrastructure will be created by the private player. State govt will fit AI-powered dash cams on Goa police vehicles and Kadamba Transport Corporation buses to capture traffic violators. These violations include three people riding on a two-wheeler, riding helmetless, and speeding.
Time of India
19-05-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
Govt finalises pvt player to implement sentinel scheme
Panaji: Govt has finalised a private player to implement the traffic sentinel scheme in a new avatar on a public-private partnership (PPP) mode. The private player will share 60.5% of the revenue — collected through fines from traffic violators — with govt. State govt has shortlisted Ms Mistotex Technology Pvt Ltd to implement the project. All the infrastructure would be created by the private player to implement the project. Govt will fit dash cams with artificial intelligence (AI) on police vehicles and Kadamba Transport Corporation buses to capture traffic violators. These violations include riding triple-seat on two-wheelers, riding helmetless, and speeding, among other traffic violations . CM Pramod Sawant is likely to launch the new system to challan traffic violators by the end of this month. The live feed from the dash cams will be sent to the control room. An automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) unit, installed on vehicles, will relay data in real-time to a local computer. It will include vehicle number plate strings, ANPR operational status, device temperature, CPU usage, and other relevant metrics. The system will reflect the pass/fail status of incoming and outgoing vehicles based on the verification of their documentation status. 'Our focus is to bring down traffic violations in rural areas so that fatal accidents are reduced on these roads. Once the AI-based dashcam captures the traffic violators, a challan will be sent directly to the vehicle owner,' the officer said. Police will also install AI cameras at four border check posts in Goa to check the documents of vehicles entering the state to ensure hassle-free travel. Once the documents are checked, police will get details of those vehicles whose documents were verified, when they stop for checking. The AI-based cameras will verify documents, including vehicle registration, pollution under control (PUC) certificate, third-party insurance, driving licence, vehicle permit for interstate travel (for commercial vehicles), and other relevant documents. The four check posts include Patradevi and Keri in North Goa and Pollem and Collem in South Goa. A senior officer said that the AI cameras will be a one-point document check for all tourists' and other commercial vehicles entering the state. The ANPR cameras and boom barriers will be installed to establish border checkpoints across the state. The ANPR systems will be internet-enabled.
