With 3.314 million km of roadways, India has the third largest road network in the world. The huge human and vehicle population is among the major causes for traffic congestion on the highways, restricting free flow of traffic. This could also be due to bad roads and poor weather conditions. Road accidents occur mostly due to failure to observe traffic rules.
Developed countries worldwide have started to deal with traffic congestion and on-road safety with the help of the Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) or the Highway Traffic Management System (HTMS). MassTrans is one of the leading suppliers of these systems in the Indian market. The company is also a front-runner in Passenger Information Systems and has an array of other innovative products to offer.
Hanover Displays is a UK-based company which is known the world over as a leading manufacturer of electronic destination sign boards for the public transport industry. In India, it has partnered with the Pune based Power Electronics in 2004 in order to have better reach in the transportation industry. In 2010 Power Electronics started another company by the name MassTrans Systems Pvt. Ltd. which deals with products related to Traffic Management and Parking. With a wide product portfolio, MassTrans offers innovative solutions in the urban mass transit Industry. It is operating jointly with nearly 22 partners in both automotive and non-automotive domains, catering to different Indian market needs.
In the automotive space, MassTrans brings global technology to Indian customers, delivering world-class quality at competitive costs, backed by a team with a combined industry experience of over 120 years. It has its plant in Pune with manufacturing, assembly and stocking facilities to provide timely, cost-effective supplies and spares to its customers, thereby reducing the downtime.
The company will soon be opening another facility in Chakan. While some critical components of the LED sign boards are currently imported from Europe, the company will attain near 100 per cent indigenisation in the near future. It has capacity to currently manufacture around 900 sign sets every month. The number will go up with a gradual rise in demand.
The company works with leading bus manufacturers like Volvo, Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, M&M, MAN, SML Isuzu, Mercedes and Eicher, while it has also received a good number of orders from other private customers in the country. Says Mr. Vinay Jain, Managing Director, MassTrans: “We are the sole suppliers of LED destination sign boards for Volvo in India. We have also supplied units to more than 9,500 buses of Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland which are currently plying across the country.”
MassTrans has delivered over 2,800 units to the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), two of the leading transport corporations in India with the latter recently placing another order for 500 sets.
Pillars of strength
MassTrans’ key strengths lie in timely delivery, product quality and quick service. It bagged huge orders during the first phase of JnNurm and is expecting good numbers in the upcoming phase as well. “We are good in deliveries, product quality and service, and so, on the whole, I would say that our chances of getting a major share of business in the upcoming round of JnNurm is pretty high”, adds Mr. Jain.
While MassTrans has made a mark for itself with its sales and service skills, Hanover Display has proved that world-class products are successful in the most demanding markets. The quality product range is supported by an extensive service network covering 23 States in the country and a reputation among customers for unmatched speed and quality of service. The company’s teams of technicians are trained by Hanover Display to ensure that the products are serviced locally, easily and quickly.
Until now, the company has been catering to the LED sign board requirements of intra-city buses in the country. With several years of experience under its belt, backed by excellent product quality and proven service, MassTrans is now extending its services to the inter-city bus segment. It is also keen on offering its range of solutions to the Railways and Metro as well.
In addition to the LED sign boards, MassTrans offers an extensive range of products and solutions, including systems for Automatic Fare Collection, Intelligent Transport Solution (ITS), Highway Traffic Management System (HTMS), Parking Management and many more.
GlobeTech in partnership with MassTrans offers the world’s best solutions in parking management and enforcement for on-street parking with recent successes such as parking management for the London Olympics and also parking management for the city of Abu Dhabi which is the world’s largest parking management project.
MassTrans also offers tailored solutions for large parking garage complexes and for smaller car parks. The company installs Parking Management Systems (PMS) in multi-storeyed parking buildings which consists of entrance and exit control terminals, fully-automatic and semi-automatic payment machines, thus maintaining the overall activity across the parking space, including controlled access to parking, vehicle flow and space availability. These systems are ideal software tools for monitoring, safeguarding and increasing the efficiency of car parks.
In India, the company is trying to spread awareness through forums and conferences on the need for on-street parking management & enforcement, particularly in CBD areas. Moving forward, the company is confident that its advanced range of solutions will evoke huge demand in the Indian market which would help open up the doors to nearby export markets as well.
* Intelligent transport system (ITS) comprises of a number of technologies to make transportation more efficient and safer by use of information, communication and control technologies. The on-board computer, the heart of ITS, is the main control unit of the bus/vehicle and according to JnNurm-II, the OBC shall control all the electronics on board and should be flexible to adapt to future challenges.
* Passenger information system (PIS) provides information to the passengers (both inside, outside the bus & on bus stations, bus stops) such as bus route, number, destination, arrival time and also current stop, next approaching stop, advertisements (In English or other regional languages).
ATMS/HTMS includes:
* Variable Message Signs (VMS) which gives information to the travelers and to the road management regarding traffic congestion, accidents, road work zone and also speed limits.
* Automatic Traffic Counter and Classification System (ATCC) to keep a count of the vehicle traffic in a particular stretch of the highway. Along with this the vehicles can be classified according to their classes.
* Weather monitoring system which records environmental parameters such as wind speed and direction, air temperature and humidity, precipitation, visibility and road conditions.
* Emergency Call Boxes provides free emergency service to stranded motorists, or passengers to contact a control centre in case of an accident or other emergency.
* Closed Circuit Television Monitoring system (CCTV) is used for continuous video monitoring at specific highway segments to convey the event information such as traffic conditions and accidents to the control room.