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Published on April 22, 2008

Jirapan Boonnoon

The Nation

Travelling with Nakhonchai Air (NCA), a domestic bus operator, is set to become safer as the company adopts a new global positioning system (GPS) for its buses. The system is configured to monitor the speed of the bus from starting point until the destination.

Sataporn Wongbejarat, managing director, NCA, said the company has installed a GPS system which reports the status of the bus every 30 seconds to a computer centre located at the main bus station.

A set-top box has been installed inside each of the buses, he said. The box uses general packet radio service (GPRS) to send information to the centre through a mobile-phone network which helps the centre monitor the status of each bus at any given moment.

The new system will help the company monitor the driver's behaviour to ensure the safety of passengers.

Sataporn said the technology will play an important role in increasing the productivity and reliability of the bus service.

The operator ferried 1.2 million passengers last year.

Apart from the GPS system, the company will also adopt a technology solution to help passengers interact with the company virtually.

"We are thinking of adopting the concept of e-transportation by allowing passengers to book bus tickets through a kiosk," Sataporn said.

The project is under development and the company is looking at e-ticketing and management software as well as kiosk-hardware options which can be installed at shopping centres.

The kiosk service will allow customers to see a template, or map, of the bus and choose seats themselves. The machine will also allow customers to pay using credit card or by cash, eliminating the need to go to the counter to buy a ticket.

The company is already providing e-ticketing through mobile phones and its website. Passengers can reserve their tickets until 30 minutes before the bus leaves the bus station. Reservations open 30 days before the date of the journey.

The buses are equipped with massage seats, and customers can watch movies-on-demand or play games on the touch screen installed in front of their seats.