Feeder Routes as 'Branded' Service

One of the most publisied initivates of the BMTC last year was the intoroduction of the Big10 routes. On some routes, it was just a renaming of the route number, but  it was always useful since it was 'Branded Service'. People anywhere can easily identify a Big-10 bus easily and a lot of people realise the routes that these buses ply on.

Another branding attempt from BMTC has been the 'Big Circle', for buses that ply mainly on the Ring Road. I happened to see a K-series bus on Jayanagar 30th Cross and this has been on Praja before. Vajra, Vayu Vajra and Atal Saarige have also been some other 'branding' attempts by BMTC.

For the two bus days (Feb and March), BMTC had made arrangements to run feeder services in select areas.  Some of these are permanent in nature and not restricted to only a day in a month. There have been other feeder services (FDR1 to FDR-6 for the Uttarahalli/Chikkalsandra/BSK areas being one of the earliest). Why cant these buses be branded in a common way?

At first, branding may only mean a distinctive/common painting style for them. Later, there are tonnes of possibilities. A separate section in the BMTC website,a special bus timetable/diary, Ticketing Concessions (wait till e-ticketing/smart card is introduced??), Separate fare setting mechanism etc.

Why Branding for feeder services?

• Branding helps people identify the bus from a distance. It generates some level of interest and curiosity amongst people when they see the buses in the vicinity of their home or office. Isnt the best means of publicity?
• It demonstrates some level of 'longer term commitment' to the concept of feeders and trunk routes. BMTC wont be painting buses in a standard way, unless they are interested in running such feeder services.
• This helps people (ordinary users) understand the difference between the normal 'hub' method of connecting to KBS/KRM/Shivajinagar and the concept of feeder buses. Otherwise, people tend to see them as 'yet-another-route'.
• If the 'Branded feeders' become popular/useful (which I believe can happen very soon in the core-Bangalore areas), it will be easy for us to switch-over from the hub system to the feeder-trunk-feeder system. Ofcouse, for that to happen, a lot of work has to be done on creating 'interchanges' close to existing junctions!

What do you think of branded feeders? If we can convince BMTC, this should take a long time to come into realisation!!

BMTC's encouraging mini bus talk - good going Mr Parwez

Amidst all the press that BMTC is getting recently, one thing that caught attention was talk of mini buses, shuttles and feeder routes. As we all know, feeder plans, and solid execution of first/last mile connects can help increase usage of BMTC as well as (future) metro.

Here are the bytes I have picked up (read in print, so don't have links handy, will search and add later)

• In a report that quoted Sudhir Krishna of MoUD (he is pretty familiar with Bangalore, an ex BMRDA cheif), it is mentioned that BMTC is procuring 32 seater mini buses
• In a report on the new Big-trunk (new name for Big10), number mentioned was I think 40 minibuses, and number of ruotes 110.

Based on my brief interactions with Mr Parwez, he is a backer of the mini bus concept. This contrasts with what we have heard from prior BMTC MDs who spoke of operational as well as procurement hurdles regarding running shuttles

• They wanted to operate shuttles with just 1 staff (driver). 2 staff on minibus was supposedly not making the business case (could be true, I am not criticizing this thought)
• For single staff operation, they would want a minibus equipment where the entry door is in the very front, so that the driver can deal with commuter as they come in.
• But then, with a single, most likely single narrow door upfront, mini bus would have to spend a lot of time to pick up and drop passengers.

All of above make sense in some way. So I am very very curious to see how the mini bus plans are moving now. We are perhaps looking at 2 staff on every bus (driver, conductor) and wide door, in the center, to keep things simple.

How the routes would be planned is a separate subject. Keenly looking forward to BMTC publishing the list of its 110 mini bus routes. From what we have seen in news reports, the routes should be around the Big-trunks. But what is not clear is if there is any concept of "change hubs". These could be the points where mini buses would connect with Trunk routes, and should need enhanced bus stops with more space, and printed information at least on feeder routes and timings.

Look forward to seeing more information on BMTC's renewed love for feeders / minibuses.

Feeder Bus Service - Malleswaram Example

This Feeder Bus service is a very good idea. I hope it is successful. But how about suggesting to BMTC to create a local Feeder bus service in several areas. For example. In Mall-eswaram, there will soon be two huge Malls at both ends - Mantri and Brigade. They could provide a service which goes as follows.

Mantri Mall - along Sampige Road - 17th Cross -8th Main - Yeswantpur TTMC/Station - Metro - Brigade Mall - 17th Cross - along 11th Main - Mantri Mall station. 

Alternately, one could have something going on Sampige directly to Yeswantpur. They could use smaller sized buses as the roads are not that big.

This would greatly benefit a lot of people. For one, Malleswaram locals can use it to get around - from West Malleswaram to Sampige Road, for example,  instead of their cars. People in the Malls can use it to get to the other stations/Malls/TTMC. 

There is minimal addition of infrastructure required.

---

Of course I speak of Malleswaram because I am familiar with it. I'm sure something like this could be instituted everywhere.

Ramesh

 

Minibuses for better area coverage

The following request has been forwarded to BMTC to consider operation of minibuses :

Quote

Dear Sir,

Re: Mini-buses on much larger scale as part of BMTC's fleet
a) For helping address last mile options, which has remained a major problem for bus users;
b) For areas /routes where passenger traffic is not high enough to justify standard size buses;
c) For areas with narrow roads that standard buses cannot reach as efficiently;
d) For feeder services for Metro, particularly late night /off-peak when volumes are lesser.
---------------------------

BMTC has made substantial additions to the bus fleet to cope with the increasing transport demands, which is laudable. However, most of these additions have been standard-sized buses.

BMTC's trials with shuttle services are probably not very successful because only large capacity standard sized buses are used & the few larger Swaraj Mazda minibuses used also have limited access in reaching interior /residential /congested areas. Thus, their routing is not very much different from the regular standard sized buses. In any case, volumes are expected to be much lower in most areas that generally qualify for shuttle services.

With auto-rickshaw fares spiraling out of control, there is a pressing need for public transport to penetrate further into the interiors of residential /congested areas much more frequently. Thus, it is suggested that BMTC acquires & operates smaller minibuses on a much larger scale. Routes, times & schedules may be determined with experience in operation of such smaller minibuses.

Though costs of operation per person per km may be on the high side since volumes will be low, Mini-buses (typically with capacity between 12 & 18) would offer a far more efficient solution to provide frequent services where larger /standard size buses might not be financially viable or would find it difficult to operate. Due to the diverse & extensive network of routes possible, viability may never be a problem.

For example, Hongkong has over 4000 minibuses operated privately. Though these are unscheduled services with no fixed tariffs, it is still one of the most popular modes of transport in that city.

Since operational distances would be shorter, a fixed tariff (say, Rs.8/-) could be charged. This will help operate Minibuses without conductors. Electronic fare collection with fixed machines upon entry by passengers can be planned for efficient operation & to plug revenue leakages.

I request you to please consider this suggestion since there is a genuine, long felt need for it, that has remained unaddressed.

Thanking You for your kind attention,
Sincerely Your's,
 

UnQuote

No bus connecvitity from Kaggadasapura, Vignana Nagar to HAL airport Road!!

I have posted this requirement in many online discussions, mailed to many concerned.

There is no connectivity from Kaggadasapura to HAL airport road. This is surprising as a person living here or nearby localities such as Malleshpalya, vignan nagar has to depend on three wheelers to reach airport road. There are many office goers who work in either whitefield, marthahalli, who find it difficult to reach as there is no direct connectivity. It is surprising that BMTC announce bus day, which is appreciated but should also think about making facilities in such a way that people support bus days. If a person need to struggle to get a bus, whats the use of  BUS DAY?

These areas are still not connected directly with Koramangala or Electronic City. If these areas are connected well with direct buses or link buses to major roads, people would avoid taking their vehicles and thus BMTC can increase their revenue

 

 

Shuttle suggestions based on our experiences

After reading everyone's Bus Day experiences in these posts, I felt we can have two approaches:

Consolidated Shuttle Routes

1. Take an efficient company's shuttle route of EC(Probably Infosys), ITPL (BMTC ITPL Shuttle bus) and ORR companies shuttles which usually picks up from all the possible areas. Consolidate them to have few common routes to run buses at 15 minute frequency during peak hours and 30 minute frequency during non-peak hours.

For example Eastern and North Eastern connectivity to EC and ORR companies can be merged just like the 505 Volvo.Southern ITPL, ORR and EC buses can be merged like 500K, where in which one can changeover to EC Big10 in Silkboard or 356 series buses or buses from North Eastern corridor like 505. We can have link from Multiplex and Silkboard to Koramangala companies via IRR.

Ordinary JNNURM low floor buses (but should be uncrowded by making passes not allowed and a premium fare) to connect with trunk routes operating using Volvos and Marcopolos.

Circular Loops approach

2. Second approach is to have various loops, Big Circle Full Circle with a frequency, local loops to Big Circle with a common ticketing seperate for Volvo and ordinary.

ITPL Loop can run betwee Multiplex to ITPL. Big 10 and 356 can provide EC Connectivity. A Shuttle from Multiplex to BTP, a shuttle connecting Silkboard to Inner Koramangala Comapanies, a shuttle at Nayandahalli to Global Village.

We can also have the inner ring which I recently posted. Loops can be merged with that too.

I will put a consolidated map when I get time shortly. All we need to have is a frequency of the loops and shuttles to be consistent and probably with the ability to Track them. 

Companies such as BTP should also provide shuttles from the major nearest bus stations.

 

Feeder Bus Routes for Areas East of Suranjandas Rd

[Note: If you have well thought out (as in precise routes and maps) local area/loop shuttle suggestions for your area, please share them as separate posts. In case of difficulty in attaching images, just mail them to "tech" at praja.in, we will attach images on your behalf. So here are Naveen's routes for his area.]

General

The areas east of Suiranjandas road have relatively narrow roads & except for CV Raman Nagar, most of the areas are poorly served with infrequent buses resulting in long waits for commuters. With the introduction of Big-10 buses, there is a chance to revamp & improve services & connect these dense areas better with minimum no. of buses & routes. Only one additional change at either Old Airport road bus stop (near HAL Police Station) or Old Madras road (Byappanahalli) will be necessary, from where commuters can transfer to Big-10s or other buses or on to the Metro at Byappanahalli, when it becomes operational.

Map-A shows the existing bus routes denoted by green lines along the various roads. (click to get the bigger  image)

There are too many bus terminuses within this area since dedicated (destination-oriented), but infrequent services were being provided to the various isolated locations wherever possible. Lines marked in Magenta are narrower sections of roads with no bus services. Of the three sections of these roads with no services, it is possible to run buses on one of them (stretch between Vignan Nagar bus station & Kaggadasapura bus station). Buses to & from CV Raman Nagar use the wider DRDO township road/s & hence, operation of even a Volvo service (201R) has been possible.

Suggested Feeder Routes

It is suggested that instead of operating several routes (eg. variants of route no.314, 330, 333, BTP buses, etc.) from city center/s to these various scattered & isolated destinations, the no. of routes & bus terminuses be minimized & through services provided as best possible. Since some of the roads are narrow for large buses, it may be better to use the smaller Swaraj Mazdas or Tata Starbuses (depending on availability within BMTC’s fleet). Private buses are already running on these roads (operated by TCS, various School buses, other private company vehicles, etc.).

Map-1 shows a possible track for Route-1 via the existing Basavanagar Bus station, Vignannagar bus station, Malleshpalya bus station, Jagadish Nagar bus station, BEML gate & LRDE /Bagmane Tech park (BTP). This route will serve all the inner areas mentioned to reach either end efficiently as also enable people arriving from Marathalli /Whitefield side & from Byappanahalli-OMR to reach BTP /LRDE & CV Raman Nagar areas with only one change.

Map-2 shows a possible track for Route-2 via Basavanagar, Vignannagar, Kaggadasapura, CV Raman Nagar, DRDO & BTP /LRDE. This route will serve the inner areas mentioned to reach either end efficiently & also connect people from Old Airport road & Byappanahalli-OMR to these areas.

Map-3 shows a possible track for Route-3 via HAL factory, HAL hospital, BEML gate, Malleshpalya, Vignannagar, Kaggadasapura, CV Raman Nagar, DRDO & BTP /LRDE. This route will serve the inner areas mentioned as also areas along Suranjandas road & connect BTP /LRDE & CV Raman Nagar. Though this route is somewhat roundabout, the benefits are connectivity for people directly from Old Airport road & OMR /Byappanahalli to most of the internal areas in one single circuit as also provide a service for commuters from Suranjandas road to these areas.

The existing destination-oriented route to LBS Nagar from Old Airport road is an exception here & will have to continue with the existing frequencies as there are no proper roads to run services past it & connect with the other routes.

Additional services past BTP /LRDE up to CV Raman Nagar bus station can continue to operate with larger buses as loads may be high, but dedicated BPT /LRDE services can be reduced since all these new routes pass through them.

Benefits

1. All the inner areas will become connected more frequently with fewer buses. Utilization & ridership on Big-10s on OMR & Old Airport road will improve as a result.
2. Exclusive services to the various scattered small bus terminuses (except for LBS Nagar) can be done away with since these routes will cover all of them.
3. The various bus terminuses can be utilized as formal bus stops & for other useful public services & parking of buses at night.
4. Old Airport road (near HAL Police Station) will be connected very well with Old Madras road (Byappanahalli) & enable commuters to move much more easily between these two important transfer points. This will prove very useful in the future when the Metro becomes operational (Separate, direct services to Byappanahalli from Old Airport Road along Suranjandas road may also be necessary at that time).
5. Even if only three buses are assigned for each route & if trip lengths are assumed to be approximately 30-35 minutes, the frequency will approximately be once each thirty minutes – much better than the 1.5 hours or so presently. If four buses are assigned per route, the frequency will improve further to about a bus each 20 minutes.
6. Since bus routes overlap with one another along some main roads within the area, frequencies will be higher on these main roads & will benefit commuters greatly.

[PS: Update, Mar 27 morning, Have added maps]