chennai when disability rights activists asked metropolitan transport corporation mtc buses to buy only lowfloor buses in future tenders the government said it was not possible due to financial constraints and practical difficulties despite a madras high court order the tenders to buy 442 new lowfloor buses which are accessible to all are still pending but now mtc has started exploring the possibility of introducing on board intelligent transport system its enabling visuallyimpaired passengers to board buses independentlyon board developed by iit delhi is a usercontrolled radiofrequency rf based system consisting of three separate units a user module in the size of the tv remote with two buttons a programming and diagnostic unit and a bus unit with a controller and speaker once the user presses the query button on the module the rf query is sent to all nearby buses and they get an audio response with the route numbers in case a route number is of user interest then they can press the select button on the module this triggers a voice output from the speaker near the bus door and this acts as an auditory cue for locating the door and boarding the busaccording to a letter from the government to mtc on july 17 it will work with the institute of road transport irt and delhibased raised lined foundation rlf on this project vaishnavi jayakumar from freedom of movement coalition fmc said a proposal made in february to have onboard systems in 500 mtc buses has been shared with smart city and cumta with no results it is hoped that they can be coupled with mtcs planned 500 lowfloor buses for trials she said