Praja - BMTC meeting

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BusPublic Transport
28 Aug 2009 18:00
28 Aug 2009 19:00
Asia/Calcutta

Praja-BMTC Meeting: 6 - 7 pm, Friday, 28th August, 2009 at BMTC Office, Double Road, (Over Big Bazaar) Bangalore


This is a follow up to the Praja's recent engagement with BMTC for feedback on its Volvo service. Now BMTC would like to discuss opportunities where Praja can help promote Public Transport among Citizens who uses Private Vehicle for their daily commute.

Agenda for the Meeting:

 

  1. Presentation from Praja - Essence of BMTC Discussions on Praja (20 mins?)
  2. Discuss opportunities and ways by which Praja can help BMTC promote its Services among the Citizens who use private vehicles for daily commute. (40 Minutes)

Meeting will strictly focus on the agenda items. For any other items, pls contact the Praja BMTC Team (Ritesh/Manjari) to schedule a separate Meeting with BMTC.

Anyone interested please leave a comment.

 

Comments

BMTC meeting

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I am keen to join.

K.V.Pathy

I will be joining

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Hi,

I am very much interested in joining this meeting.

Currently Out of Country - Please check these items

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1. Connectivity plans after TTMC

2. Website upgrade

3. Bus Tracking by mobile phone

4. Recent news about BRT - More updates on that

5. Vayu Vajra - Why not alternative plans like mini buses when buses are running empty in few routes?

 

BMTC meeting

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Before we meet BMTC it is better to list out our suggestions to them.

K.V.Pathy

Better to have a clear agenda/questionnaire

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Pathy avare/ Manjari avare,

I wish I could make it from Mysore.

U R right. Otherwise, it will be a meet without meat. It is better if sufficient time is given to BMTC to give deliverable solutions so that it can be posted on praja and valuable time can be utilised for solutions to problems with a futuristic ambience on transport. 

- if problems affecting majority commuters can be discussed  - a number of prajas have posted highly relevant points on various problems being faced by all class of commuters;

- http://praja.in/blog/vasanthkumar-mysoremath/2009/07/26/stratified-bmtc-service-making-profits-with-deficient-servic

- Many prajas wanted stats on running of volvos, mercs, macropolos etc., and this is an opportunity to get them from the horses mouth and also ascertain the exact figures for the past 3 years

- During the meeting, it would be better if a laptop with internet connectivity is carried and Prajegalu can make an impressive online presentation of Prajas concern about the city's transport problems etc.

- if it is possible, many similar problems of ordinary commuters in Mysore may also be discussed although the present one is on BMTC.

However, to make it easy the following may be of help and finally points that are worth may be cut and pasted as questions::

BMTC has of late adopted a highly stratified approach in discharging its social obligation in providing efficient service at economical rates to the commuters; its profits have soared because the most of the time the engines of the fully loaded or overloaded buses are switched off at most of the traffic hold ups - their failure and inefficiency in keeping up the running time and fulfilling the prescribed running schedules are open to examination and must be subjected to an indepth audit to reveal the anotomy of BMTC's profit making methods.

Ordinary Buses:

Most of the ordinary buses catering to the majority of the commuters are unkempt,

window glasses are either broken or dirty and untouchable with dried vomit sticking on the glass panels, on the floor and outside the windows,

floors are not swept and lots of dirt keeps circulating inside the bus endangering the health of commuters and creating allergic conditions,

drivers seat and his area of operation are despicable,

first aid box does not exist or if it exists, is either empty or god knows what is inside,

poor visibility of name boards, front board shows a destination and the back board shows some other destination,

name board does not have a proper light,

lighting inside the bus is very dim and we have seen conductor struggling to remove proper change from his bag or to make entries,  

most of red board buses running on mofusil routes are old rickety buses that rattle and make horrible sounds,

they are withdrawn periodically to the workshop to get a fresh coat of paint over the peeling paint only in the interiors,

 those who are sitting in the front seats have to breath the unhealthy hot air that escapes through the poorly fitted rickety covers of the engine bonnet,

the list could be long.

Pushpaks: They are an apology to the name; only difference between ordinary and pushpak is their color is different but seats are almost the same - torn and patched here and there.  They also suffer from maladies -

Pushpak's  2+3 seating arrangement has no place for standing commuters, but most of them are run  on busy routes to capacity and ordinary buses are drastically reduced - clever examples:  trips to Bannerghatta National Park - it is either volvo or pushpaks or other semi-luxury type buses charging higher fares,

commuters are paying for maximum inconvenience and deficient service; one cannot be sure whether they will be able to keep up an appointment. 

Heavy investments are being made to cater to a miniscule class of hi-end commuters; Volvos are still running to less than half their capacity and reports keep appearing that the daily loss from Volvos is reaching a peak. But more and more such hi-end buses are being delivered at BMTC depots.

Information on numbers may be asked:

1. Was a due diligence survey conducted for projection of load, optimum utilisation, break even, before purchase orders placed?

2. Numbers (different luxury makes only) 

 approved, 

orders placed,

delivered,

nos on road, 

total cost,

idling,

gross/net income derived for the past 3 years,

number of pending orders, 

whetherJnNURM funded or from its own funds, 

if incurring loss, why can't fresh orders be suspended, if not, why not?

is any reliable data available to quantify the benefits accrued by running such luxury buses - like reduction of cars etc., on road? If so, figures thereof, if not, why not or what is proposed to be done?

is atal service a success?  

Big 10 is another service ever introduced by a service provider in the social sector without proper planning and survey. These buses are supposed to cater to hi-end customers who have not even glanced at these ornamental toys provided to them at the cost of sweat and blood of the common commuter who is languishing to get back home as early as possible but there are no buses.

Enough is enough. Stop pampering the hi-end customers with Volvos etc., because they would prefer to travel in their fleet of cars even if it matters that they will be behind a Volvo to the same destination.  It is a matter of egoism for these 'haves'.  Given an opportunity, all of them blah, blah, blah on public platforms but does not bother to practice what they preach. Their vehicles are the guzzlers of most of the fuel and they are the culprits who emit maximum per capita CO2 and create carbon footprints of the highest order.

In the name of reducing vehicles on the road, achieving fuel economy, control of green house gases, climate change, global warming or global dimming, the common man is being put to maximum hardship with minimum services.

It is time for BMTC to go back to basics, look at the common man as their bread and butter earner, fulfil his needs and aspirations of efficient and economical travel, do not show off empty ornamental buses that makes you bleed, try to give maximum comfortable travel facilities to all without stratification between 'haves' and 'have nots'.  Give him proper bus shelters with enough information system through LED boards, do not encourage, even if it is PPP, A/C bus shelters, instead, use the money to provide some drinking water facility etc. at bus stands.

I have a travelling experience of more than 50 years in BTS/BMTC and that is my qualification for this postmartem.    

- Vasanthkumar Mysoremath, 9845950440

- vasanth mysoremath

BMTC meeting

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I hope to come for the meeting (other commitments permitting).

I Will Join Too

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I hope to attend this meeting, unless some unforeseen engagements keep me tied.

BMTC meeting

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The basic need for car users in swithing over to Public Transport is last mile connectivity, i.e. from residence/work place to bus stop of high end bus routes .

For this, feeder buses are needed to cover each and every nook and corner of the city & suburbs. This is possible ( as in our neighbouring States) by deploying MINI BUSES (not maxi cabs or Tempos which have proved to be hazardous).

In case BMTC is not in a position to provide such service for their own reasons, private operators should be deployed (again this is being done successfully in neighbouring States like Tamilnadu, at much more economical fares to commuters and the operators also making enough profits).

Other obvious requirements are-

Wide publicity to the routes and timings of the high end buses through newspapers until BMTC website is recommissioned. A separate time table for each route with route map may be printed and sold for a nominal price of say, 50P. (such individual route time tables are distributed free at the Information/Help Desks of Public Transport abroad).

The BMTC enquiry offices should be manned by trained and knowledgeable senior staff who really know the BMTC routes. They should also be provided with full information on the timings and route maps of all the routes. (At present the staff at the enquiry no. 12667 have no knowledge and they invariably reply that the information is not available on their computer!).

The Volvo or similar services should be provided for all Railway stations, as is being done for BIAL airport. The subway between City Railway station and Majestic Bus station is not at all fit for use by most commuters, esp. Senior citizens, women and children with their baggage (even minimum unavoidale ones), due to the faulty design of this subway with numerous stairs, sloping and wet, dark , serpentine passages making it harsh on the users and it takes at least half-an-hour to transit from bus platform to train platform, that too if they already have reserved tickets.

K.V.Pathy

will make it

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hopefully...

-Srivatsava V

Meeting Agenda!

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The Meeting agenda for the upcoming meeting with BMTC has been added to the original Post. All those who have shown interests to attend this meeting pls send a PM to Manjari with your email IDs and also Plan on a Co-ordination Meeting (SKYPE) to be held on Tuesday @ 10 PM IST.

Feedback from a senior citizen bus user

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 I am a senior citizen. I travel buy Bus often as Auto is costly (long distance ) and two wheeler is risky. I would appreciate a point-by-point response to these and suggestions from others in your website.

 

 

1.      The Bus Stops on the route should be announced by the Driver and much before the Bus reaches the stop. The Conductor is often busy issuing tickets. It creates problems especially in the  in the late evenings when the bus is overcrowded and one cannot make out the Bus Stop. A small mike will do.

 

2.      There should be clear direction boards mentioning the destinations. For example a new comer may wait on the opposite side ( eg. A person may wait in Agar on the wrong side to go to Jayadev Hospital or Banashankari ).

 

3.      The stops should be spaced out with clear sign boards.. Because of this there is confusion and people rush when a bus comes. Sometimes drivers take the easier option of bypassing the stop.

 

4.      The confusion is more when the name plates on the buses are unclear and cannot be read from a distance. Can we have better- lettered and bigger name plates. ? I don’t understand why it is standardized this way. Many times the passenger unable to read the number and destination. He waves too late for the bus to stop.

 

5.      The Vajra Buses have a moving name board. It is very difficult to make out the destination unless the Bus stops for a few second. What is good on a Railway Platform is not ood for a moving bus.

 

6.      In the Rear of the Bus there should be a clear name plate. People rush out from office and they can quicken their pace and catch it if they know from rear where the bus is   is going.

 

7.      Even the properly built bus shelters do not have information regarding the routes etc. One finds very classy ads there. Why? Use the space to give information in a targetted and easly disgestible form

 

8.      From the Hudson Circle scores of Buses are on the road to KBS. They are semi-full. This leads not only to wastage of diesel but also delay. Sometimes it takes 5 to 10 minutes for a Bus to enter the Stand. Is there anybody creative enough to find a solution ?

 

9.      I have not understood the logic of  Driver-cum-Conductor  Buses. They are slow, lead to wastage of diesel, increase pollution and hinder the the traffic.

 

10. Overcrowding is inevitable. Given the rash of communicable diseases, this needs to be seriouslyv looked into.There should be a limit to that. Especially in the evenings ,passengers inhale each other’s exhalation. Are there any rules regarding the extent of permissible overcrowding ?

 

11. Bus stops should be properly named. There are 4 Bus Stops with the name “ Jakksandra “. Go by the familiar landmarks and not by fancy names.

 

12. Most buses are prematurely old and accident scarred. There is need for proper and regular maintenance. Are the RTO standards applicable.Buses stranded on the roads create traffic problems.

 

13. One can try on a few routes conductorless buses  but with  conductor there at the stop instead. There will less confusion and more orderly que.

 

14. Improvements certainly depend on the resources. My own impression is little things that are helpful to passengers are not addressed. It will not take much time to take computer print out of different routes and put them in the Bus Shelters.

 

15. I STRONGLY FEEL THAT  THE OFFICERS OF ALL GRADES SHOULD BE MADE TO TRAVEL INCOGNITO ON A FEW ROUTES ONCE  IN A MONTH TO GET A FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE. CONDCTOR AND DRIVERS SHOULD BE INVOLVED IN THE DECISION MAKING  PROCESS. THEIR ‘ GRASS ROUTE ‘ EXPERIENCE IS INVALUABLE. CREATIVE SUGGESTIONS FROM THEM SHOULD BE WELCOMED AND REWARDED. WESTERN MODELS NEED TO BE ADAPTED TO OUR NEEDS, RESOURCES AND CULTURAL CONTEXT. CITY LIFE IS FULL OF TENSION AND COMMUTATIONIS A TENSION.

 

Suhas

Prely. meeting

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My e-mail i.d. is

pathykv@gmail.com.

I am not sure of being on SKYPE.

K.V.Pathy

I could be on SKYPE from Mysore

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will be happy to join SKYPE meet on tuesday the 25th at 10 PM from Mysore.

This augurs well for the democratic functioning of Prajegalu.  My only dream and wish is that the service providers should also follow this kind of 'bottoms to top' consultations approach route with aam aadmis before finalising their projects for the welfare of the people;  especially, BMTC while introducing hi-end buses.

email ID: vasanthmysoremath@gmail.com

- Vasanthkumar Mysoremath, 9845950440

BMTC Meeting Details!

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Thanks to all those who have shown interest to attend this meeting. Mnay thanks to all those who have posted their feedback on BMTC in general.

As mentioned earlier this BMTC meeting will be conducted with at most professionalism as the event demands. This meeting is being called at the behest of BMTC. Therefore expectations are more from BMTC side also. We are leveraging this meeting to put across some important aspects that have been discussed here on Praja w.r.t BMTC.

Let us take baby steps and keep working with BMTC to realize objectives that have synergies between 2 entities. The presentation from Praja will cover all the high level discussion points that encourages BMTC to take up the consolidation and rationalization of routes, services and helpful customer service via websites, phone etc.

Since BMTC is very vast subject, presentation is being planned to give a gist of of all our discussions. As not to leave any suggestions left out, I request a volunteer to collate all the suggestions made on this post and make them into a comprehensive list. I am hoping that we can hand over this list to the BMTC during their meeting and we can assign somebody from amongst us to us follow up on thta list.

Any volunteers?

Syed

i will join the meet...

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I would like to join the meet...

vinod

I'll attend the 28th meet, not sure about skype, my suggestions-

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My Questions to BMTC

(1) First of all, I have a basic question, how many drivers hired actually got a proper driving training about safety, traffic rules i.e. basic road-sense? Earlier when volvos were introduced we see them being driven by specialized and trained drivers, but the scene is no more the same.

(2) I see most of the times that BMTC bus drivers doesn't follow traffic rules, they don't see the RED light to stop their big vehicle.

(3) Also, I saw on many roads that its written "Buses keep left", and that's what intended also, so that they can stop at the bus-stops etc, but that is never never followed,  bus drivers drive on full road where ver they see space, creating chaos for other vehicles specially the two-vehicles.

(4) Do we really have designated bus stops? If yes, why are not they maintained properly (Clean and visible). And if they are maintained also, then why doesn't bus stop at the designated bus-stops?

(5) Whenever buses stops, why  don't they stop on the extreme left of the road, I always see buses stopping at bus-stop on non-bus-stop leaving 6-7 feet space on their left, leaving very less space on their rightside road, thereby creating traffic jams behind them.

(6) Above point is true for all the buses, to make the situation worse, another BMTC bus try to overtake this stopped bus from right and stand in front of this bus. During process of overtaking, the other bus always get jammed in between, also cause other vehicles to stop as well and cause a lot of traffic jam in that particular area.

(7) I understand that we are so pathetic about lane-discipline but I believe we should atleast understand that if you have to turn left, you should stand in leftmost lane, and if you have to take right, you should stop on rightmost lane, but I always find BMTC buses do stand wherever they find space and move forward, and when they have to take turn, they take left turn far away from the rightmost lane, and right turn far away from the leftmost lane. (Go to HSR layout(BDA comp)-koramangala junction while coming from agara lake towards BTM, you can see it yourselves.)

Whatever I said above is very very true, if you don't feel so, I can prove every other point of mine by taking pictures of above irregularities standing by my points.

Please consider these points as proper issues, and try to address them, that way we can reduce our traffic jam by 30-40%.
Also, this way, BMTC will generate respect in citizen's heart, and that is the way we can attract more and more people to leave their private vehicles and start using public transport.
Looking at current situation, everyone is so pessimistic about BMTC by looking at their behaviour on roads, every other vehicle driver (2 or 4 wheeler) tries to maintain distance from a passing-by bus and that reflects in real life too.
We need to address this as soon as possible if we really want to make our city traffic-jam free, GREEN, less-polluted.

I will do it

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I will collate all the suggestion in this post and will put it in a listed manner by wednesday night so that everyone can go through it and in case anything is left out then it can be added.

Some suggestions to improve passenger experience

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 I used to drive my car to work earlier, but now use the Volvo service frequently. My comments are based on my travel on the Volvo 500 series buses.

The BMTC drivers and conductors are generally polite and will even oblige you by stopping at unscheduled stops to drop you off. And if they happen to be on the left lane they will even stop to pick you up at unscheduled stops if you wave at them and they notice you.

However the drivers don’t make it a point to be on the left lane when they approach a bus stop. If there is a bus already stopped at the bus stop they sometimes proceed without stopping. However If they happen to notice someone waving and running behind the bus to catch it they may eventually stop. Also if someone wants to get off the bus in such a situation, they will stop the bus eventually to let him off.

Also even if they stop, at the bus stop, they may not stop close to the edge of the road. It could be several feet from the edge of the road thus endangering the life of the passengers.

These are some suggestions that can be implemented immediately without any major cost:

  1. Strictly ensure that the buses remain in the left lane when they approach any bus stop.
  2. Stop exactly at the bus shelter and do not make people run behind the bus. If there is no bus shelter, then BMTC should install a pole which indicates the exact location of the bus stand. The bus should stop with its front door within a couple of feet from this pole.
  3. Stop the bus such that it is as close as possible to the bus shelter, so that the passengers can step into the bus directly from the bus shelter. If there is no bus shelter, then stop close to the foot path. With the maneuverability that a Volvo provides this should be trivial for the drivers to do this.
  4. If there is a bus already stopped at the bus stand, then wait for it leave and then approach the bus stand. Also ensure that there is no passenger waiting to board the bus before the bus proceeds. Never overtake the stopped bus and go ahead of the bus thus forcing the passengers to run behind the bus. 

There are a few more suggestions which could have some costs associated with it and could be taken up on a long term basis.

  1. Install a stop request button near the rear door. This will allow people at the rear to get out without winding their way to the front through a crowded bus. Once the button is pressed an indicator should light up confirming that the request has been registered. In fact I am surprised that the Volvo buses don’t have this feature after costing a fortune.
  2. Improve the scrolling destination displays so that they provide the bilingual information in a concise manner. Each iteration of the two languages should ideally complete within a few seconds. Currently some of them (usually the Kannada version) take ages to go through one loop and it is not possible to make out the destination quickly. I have also noticed in some cases only one language being shown - either Kannada or English.
  3. Figure out a way to avoid buses on the same route arriving at a stop at the same time. Make them run at a more regular frequency. One way to do this is throttling them at the starting point, that is delay the departure of a bus slightly if the previous one left very late.

SKYPE Meeting Information!

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As announced the scheduled skype meeting will held today @ 10 PM IST. here are the details.

My skype Id - kbsyed61

Agenda for the meeting:

  1. Brief intro from everybody.
  2. Upcoming BMTC meeting conduct - Agenda and some ground rules
  3. Brief summary of Praja's presentation
  4. Assignments

Those of you who do not have the skype ID., pls register with  http://www.skype.com and download the skype chatting application.

 

Syed

 

 

Some suggestions

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Hi,

I just wanted to put here some suggestion from praja.in itself that I thought are important.

In my opinion suggestion in this link  and others praja.in/en/blog/nagrajprabhu/2009/08/08/public-transporation-there-better-way-handle-it#comment-16255

Increase the buses during the peak hour (7.30AM to 10.30 AM) and 4 to 9 PM. Currently maximum buses ply between 10.30 AM and 5.30 (General shift is 10-6) PM ... This is a very good that could be presented to BMTC.

This link  praja.in/en/blog/silkboard/2009/07/08/bmtc-corruption-and-ticket-less-rides#comment-15329   says that Generally the bus routes in the city are categorized as 
1. profitable routes  (where commuter density is high)
2. non-profitable routes.

I hope BMTC could form a system which does justice to the staff and also the passengers with less scope for manipulation.

Thanks for the initiative.

Suggestions

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As I may not be able to join on SKYPE, I give a few suggstions-

The BMTC meeting is mainly to give ideas for making car users change over to Public Transport. The easiest way for BMTC to find out the reasons for more people not changing will be to ask all their top officials to change over to their own buses giving up the official cars. Then they will find/know the main reasons like-

1. Car is a status symbol and most do not like to sacrifice it.

2. The cars are provided by the employer in many cases

3.Car users do not like to walk to and from the bus stops due to well known reasons like the long distance, lack of usable pedestrian walkways etc.

4. The time needed to use Public transport is more than that for the use of cars.

5. It also involves one or two changes of buses to reach the destination and back.

6. Many destinations are inaccessible if they are on 'one-way' routes.

7. The journey is not as comfortable as car ride, especially if you have to travel standing.

 

If BMTC officials experience the above causes  first hand, they will try to solve these problems before asking others to change over from cars to buses.

K.V.Pathy

SKYPE discussion

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Dear Manjari,

Further to our useful Skype conf. of yesterday,

please ask BMTC for the following info. related to the one point agenda-

1. No. of officers/top managers who are allotted official cars.

2.No. of other officials/staff paid car allownce

3. No. of officials/staff paid two wheeler allownce

4. No. of the above people who have changed over to BMTC buses.

Once we get the above info. we can analyse the causes of the not switching over, which will be equalllly applicabe to the other car/private vehicle users.

K.V.Pathy

BMTC - Monitoring by Managers

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Mr.Pathy's point is valid.

However, my suggestion is for BMTC to have random, unannounced checks on different routes by all grades of officers, including the CTMO /MD for deficiencies & improvement.

It is quite clear that BMTC services need a lot of improvement, particularly in areas such as commuter needs /difficulties in addition to improper procedures being followed by buses such as stopping out of the designated areas at stops, etc.

Syed /Manjari - any inputs before we include this ?

Peak Hour Services

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Dear Manjari,

If possible please raise one query from my side.

How many BMTC buses run as chartered buses ( for companies like ITI , BEL, INFY etc) ?

When the demand for public transport is most ( peak hours - generally office opening and closing hours)  onus is on BMTC needs to catch up and run maximum no of  buses - utilize full capacity (buses/drivers) available.

But I think by operating some chartered buses ( obviously during peak hours) BMTC effectively does the opposite.

Because private operators provide chartered service , and by law they cannot provide public transport ,  If chartered service supply is scarce market forces will make sure that supply meets the demand. I hope BMTC is not obliged to provide chartered service. If they are then I think BMTC should give up monopoly.

By and large I am quite happy with BMTC services. Ofcourse there is a lot of room for improvement. I believe BMTC is "getting there" ( improving day by day). 

I will try to make it to the next meeting.

Thanks

~Girish

Rome was not built in a day.

Survey among non-users

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A good place to start is to do a survey among non and lapsed users to understand

a. What are their commuting need?

b. WHy is BMTC not their preferred choice of commuting

c. What changes do they expect in BMTC for them to start

Customer data is the first step to improving.  Else it will be a internally focused exercise

Srivathsa

Drive safe.  It is not just the car maker which can recall its product.

all the best!

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@ Girish - Welcome to PRAJA. As for the point made by you, I suggest you take a look at this

@ Manjari, Syedbhai, and all those involved in this exercise - may be, you want to browse through the following blogs while at the job
http://praja.in/node/838
http://praja.in/en/blog/naveen/2008/06/10/ttmcs-will-they-solve-problems#comment-5614

As for me, while pinning some hopes on Prof Ashwin Mahesh's efforts at improving BMTC's services, I still believe that the real big ticket change can happen only through this, and I shall continue talking that language.

Muralidhar Rao

Muralidhar Rao

Some audit points after Skype meet

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My two paise

- from what was explained by the moderator Mr.Syed and Ms.Manjari, I feel that Prajas will be meeting some consultant, outsourced by BMTC and some officials of BMTC (not clear who is who) for facilitating public consultation.

- An agenda has been drawn up centering around, IMHO, how best to utilise Volvos and make people reduce their usage of 4 wheelers plus other points that were not clear.

- My request to those Prajas who are making it convenient to attend is to touch upon the basic tenets of exitance of BMTC as a public sector company whose primary duty is to provide minimum possible comfortable and economical transport system to the maximum commuters. 

- Just because huge money has come from JNNURM it does not mean it should be spent in an imprudent manner by investing in hi-tech vehicles, intro of IT that cannot be understood by the majority commuters, non-compatible electronic ticketing machine softwares, LCD/LED etc., whereas, ordinary commuters continue to suffer.

- Civil works being undertaken for IMTCs involve huge investments and construction works  appear to be the best mode of spending such Nnurm funds within the shortest possible time of 24 months.

- vasanth mysoremath

Corrections!

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VKM sir,

2 important corrections that is needed w.r.t your earlier comment.

  1. The meeting will be attended by BMTC officials and Praja members. BMTC officials are led by CTMO Mr. K.S.Vishwanath and others.
  2. Agenda for Praja is to discuss opportunities where it can help Promote Public transport (in this case BMTC) services among the private vehicle users.

Praja's mandate is to promote public transport whether it is by BMTC or even any private service provider (if they are allowed to operate). It is not that Praja will market Volvo service or any particular service for a particular segment. Over all objective is to push BMTC to offer services that caters to all sections of Bangalore residents.

Any other assumption w.r.t this meeting is incorrect and far from truth. I urge members to participate in the meeting and wait for outcome of the meeting to come to any connclusions.

Syed

Please pose my questions to BMTC and then decide

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Syed Bhai,

/Any other assumption w.r.t this meeting is incorrect and far from truth. I urge members to participate in the meeting and wait for outcome of the meeting to come to any connclusions./

Pl remember I also took part in the Skype meet, expressed these doubts openly and requested for inclusion of these items for discussion.  The one point agenda does encompass the whole gamut of transport problems and sub-questions cannot be ruled out.

Even before posing these as sub-questions to the authorities, 'terming them as assumptions', 'far from truth' and requesting members 'not to come to any conclusions - smacks of politicising the meeting to gain maximum votes and does not augur well.

Is there any problem in posing these grassroots level questions and elicit their response and bring it to the notice of Prajas?

- Board room niceties apart, time has come to call a spade a sapde.

- Pardon me for being frank in expressing my feelings in the best interest of ordinary commuters whose interest should be at the core of prajas approaches.  The Bottom To Top approach.

- vasanth mysoremath

Survey among non-users

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I agree that they need to focus on the needs and mostt importantly work on why we prefer other modes.

Syed has included this in the presentation from praja's side and hopefully they will start working on it.

All suggestions and questions will be forwarded to BMTC

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Is there any problem in posing these grassroots level questions and elicit their response and bring it to the notice of Prajas?

VKM sir,

  Manjari is taking the additional responsibility of collating all the questions and handing them to the BMTC for their response and suitable action.

Apart from well meaning discussions, we need people on ground who can run pillar to post to see that authorities are questioned for dereliction of their duty and the mandate.

As you said in the skype meeting we need more praja members stepping forward and taking part in the grass root efforts. Lets encourage more members to join the cause.

 

Thanks and way to go..

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Thanks manjariji for having taken the 'additional' responsibility of collating earlier posts of concerns on public transport by prajas.

Syed Bhai,

With regard to prajas effective involvment from grass roots level It will not be out of context if I mention that - only 5 per cent of India's population of 1940s were actually involved and some lost their life for the sake of our non-violent struggle for independence and the other 95 per cent are now enjoying it.

- Nodi swamy naavu irode heege.

- vasanth mysoremath

List of suggestions

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I have collated a list of suggestions (solutions to problems) and put up a post.
I have gone through all the comments on this post and a few other posts and made a list. post

Please go through the list and in case I have left out any suggestion then please leave a comment so that it can be added.

Thanks,
Manjari

Still not sure already one year passed & no service !

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I had written a mail to ctmobmtc@gmail.com to enhance the bus service from one junction to another junction . Till date i have wriiten many replies & reminders , but off late only two replies from their end & even have been to their good office & have met their chief Traffic controller . The beloved staff & their office is a great eye washer & good to be a political drama training college .

They convince & speak very positively but in vain . It takes 9-10 moths to deliver a baby . But i dont think it might take even more for the BMTC officials  just to process a mail  . Correct me if I am wrong.

Need to write to the much beloved BMTC MD . But , i am not finding his official e-mail ID . If anybody can provide , it will be a great effort in way of escalating the same .

 

With Thanks ,

Rohit

they usually do

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The id is 'bmtccmd' at gmail. Do write, but do be aware that everything you asked for is not guaranteed to be given to you. If you can show support for your 'request' by even 10+ people, your chances increase.

They aren't perfect though. If we can have a 'proper' way of taking in commuter requests, where everyone could see what is being requested for, and what type of requests are being taken in or not taken in, that itself would do wonders. I think we all can live with "my idea not taken in" feeling, but knowing that some grievances and suggestions are indeed being taken up and worked on helps a lot.

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