Public transport in cities is often marred by inefficiency due to legacy, manual operations lacking real-time information. Such inefficacies translate into late buses, packed buses, a shoddy passenger experience, and widespread mistrust of public transport systems. This project delves into the potential contribution of IoT technologies—real-time GPS location tracking and passenger monitoring system—toward the efficiency of bus transport and service. Introduced system integrates GPS modules for tracking the bus location, Force sensitive register for counting the passengers, and seat occupancy detectors for tracking availability. Data accumulated from test runs of the deployed equipped buses with respect to the location update, passenger count, and seat availability status were contrasted with the use of manual operations. Outfitted buses with real-time tracking and monitoring system were found to make more accurate arrival predictions, reduced wait time, and facilitated better route and capacity planning. There was no finding of improvement with the use of manual operation for the control group. Implementation of this IoT-based system significantly enhanced the transparency and usability of the public transport. Findings indicate real-time tracking and passenger monitoring systems do not run the transport itself but are useful aids empowering informed decision- making, streamlined processes, and a better experience for the passengers.
