BMTC has x000 buses, and with those many buses, it runs y000 routes. The route to bus ratio comes to around xx, and here is how it compares with some other bus systems.
| City | Buse | Routes | Ratio |
| Mumbai | tbd | ||
| Chennai | tbd | ||
| London | tbd | ||
| Paris | tbd | ||
| Bangalore | tbd |
While high route to bus ratio may provide a picture that the bus system has good reach and coverage, that may be misleading because the high ratio could imply lower frequencies. In case of BMTC, it has deployed a significant number of buses on long point to point routes, and further, has variations (333A, B, C, D etc) to add more buses on large PTP routes. Running more routes means you have fewer buses on each route, and hence the frequency is expected to be lower (fewer buses deployed on each route). Perceived reliability of a bus service depends on wait time at bus stops, and that in turn depends on on two key aspects
- Punctuality - I would show up a bus stop at x hours sharp
- Frequency - Maximum time I'd have to wait to get a bus to my destination
Since BMTC operates in mixed and congested traffic conditions, it can guarantee punctuality at point closer of origin. Larger the route, further the bus stop from origin, harder it is to predict arrival times. Shorter route, in theory, give you better chances of running predictable schedules.
Other way of increasing commuter preception on reliability is to offer higher frequencies. Current examples of this would be BMTC's 335E (Majestic to ITPL) and 365 (Majestic to Benerghatta Park) Volvo routes.
Beyond the simple description above, there are further detailed ideas and suggestions on how BMTC can improve on its routing system. Refer to these pages for some:
- Parmwswaran Model (TBD, pick from http://nparames.web.offic...)
- Grid/Matrix model (TBD)
- Zone based multiple hub model (TBD)
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