Mangaluru: In order to provide convenience to their passengers by providing free internet, the private bus owners association members have decided to install city buses with WiFi systems in phases.

The decision on the issue of providing free internet to passengers will be discussed at the city bus owners meeting to held at the last week of June.

The owner of Goldline bus Route number 54 plying from Statebank to Huhakuvakallu had installed WiFi and provided free internet service on an experimental basis for a year and has continued providing this service.

Every day, approximately 3.5GB internet is used by its passengers who can use the service without any password. Due to this reason, more than 150 passengers take advantage of this service daily. Also, after installing the WiFi service, the number of passengers using the bus has increased.

This new facility is being done to retain the passengers to the city private bus service routes along which KSRTC city buses have started to give their service. Also, in the mornings and evenings, the density of college students travelling is at the peak and by providing free internet service the youth could be attracted is the calculation of the bus owners.

Wifi service has been installed in the BMTC AC buses in Bengaluru. Close to 200 buses plying along Bengaluru international airport, White Fields, Electronic City and other places have installed WiFi. The number of people using this facility has also increased. Normally, to install a WiFi service, a Wifi router is needed which costs about 2000 rupees. The router can be charged every day through electricity. Later, the internet offers of various companies can be availed and based on passenger useage the data can be increased.

The KSRTC buses are already providing free WiFi service in Mangaluru city which is developing as a smart city. In the same way, passengers at Mangaluru Central Railway Station and Mangaluru International Airport can make use of free WiFi services there. Now, the city private buses in Mangaluru have come forward to install free WiFi service.

There are 363 buses in Mangaluru in which, close to 1 lakh people travel daily. 25% of the travelers are students. If all the city buses install WiFi services, 1 lakh people can take profit from it.

“We are thinking to expand the free WiFi service to even more private buses in Mangaluru. We will discuss about this at the owners meeting in the last week of June. The free WiFi service has not been misused by anybody till now. But, in order to prevent this, in the coming days, banned internet sites will be blocked,” informed Aziz Partipady, president of private bus owners association.

“Since one year, the bus plying from Statebank to Huhakuvakallu has WiFi. Most of the people travelling in the bus make use of this facility. At some places in rural areas, there is no internet facility. In this situation, WiFi becomes a convenience for the passengers,” said Santosh, a bus passenger.