Mixed reactions to Wi-Fi at PNBS

VIJAYAWADA: The euphoria over Pandit Nehru Bus Station (PNBS) becoming the first hi-tech bus station in the country seems to have evaporated already. Just 10 days after the 5G Wi-Fi service was launched, users of the facility, with whom ToI interacted on Friday, were complaining mostly about the lack of speed.
As per the statistics provided by RTC officials, nearly 2,000 people on an average access Wi-Fi services at the bus station everyday.The number has remained more or less the same since the facility was installed by QuadGen, a Bangalore-based IT firm. “We haven’t seen much of a surge over the past few days but still there has been a constant flow of people accessing our services through Wi-Fi,” said an official with the IT firm.
The internet service, provided by BSNL, is being channelled through 17 ports at both the arrival and departure terminals of the bus station. Each has the capability to provide Wi-Fi to around 600 people. “We have not reached our targets. In fact, only half of the users subscribe to the services while the rest depend on the complimentary offer for the first usage period of 30 minutes. The usage of recharge cards is yet to gain momentum and we cannot talk about the margins at this point of time,” the official added.
There are about seven counters in the bus station. The Wi-Fi card costs Rs 30 but most of the sellers feel the initiative is a flop. “I do not know how many people are using the Wi-Fi services but the sales of these cards are no more than five a day. At the most, we might sell seven,” said Vicky, the owner of a cell phone point at the bus station.
While the company had promised a minimum speed of 2 mbps per device at the launch, the users at PNBS complained that the speed is much slower and that sometimes it goes way below what they get from even their 2G data packs.
“I do not mind paying Rs 30 to get 300 MB of 5G Wi-Fi. The problem is that what they give is anything but 5G. The speed was good initially. But what is the point of having such a service if it falls within 10 days of its launch,” wondered A Srujan, a commuter who visits the bus station regularly.
Despite the mixed reactions, APSRTC is thinking of extending the initiative. “The response will be monitored for another week or so. Proposals will be sent to the RTC managing director for giving the same service at other bus stations in the state. We can expect this to happen very soon,” said Nagender Prasad, deputy transport manager of Vijayawada division.