When I went to school in the late 80’s and early 90’s, we enjoyed taking the double Decker bus number 134 to Ulsoor from Shivajinagar. I know there were other routes like 131 and 150. BTS became BMTC and soon the double Decker buses became history and faded away from the roads and our memory. Obviously a decision was taken on some rationale, can someone help to answer these questions
- Why were double Decker buses stopped?
- Are they a feasible option for Bangalore?
- What happened to the old busses? (they were unique from Mumbai’s DD’s since these buses actually had a separate head and body)
- If it is not possible/feasible to run these again can't we have exhibition runs like the railways do for steam engines?
- Can't we get a model and have it on display at a city’s prominent place, in time our city will have nothing legacy about it anymore?
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Adding to the Memories
I would also love to share sweet memories here. It was splendid in school days to travel by these wonderfull Double Deckers. Get on top of the deck touch the tree's , put our head out of the front 1st Window.
I have travelled all the routes those days
150
134
131
6
151
All the buses belonged to the Depot No. 6 at Indiranagar.
It would be great if BMTC adopts these buses on the outer Ring Road segement at least.
These buses where discontinued from service due to low pickup & heavy maitanence.
Sunil Kumar
there was an accident..
As of I can recollect...there was an accident where a double decker bus toppled at the Ramakrishna Sq near Gandhi Bazaar and the busses were stopped after that incident...
Also some of the routes did not allow such busses those days due to the limitations in height..hence it was considered useless..
Yes it was indeed fun sitting on top when young!
I remember using 131 double
I remember using 131 double decker fondly. We need to move towards articulated buses instead, if not anything atleast overpasses dont need to get built as high as they are now. Look at the overpass in front of Sophia school its literally up in the sky. Did the contractor get paid by the volume of steel he used?
Even Route 311 & 315 in late 80s
I remember using 311 & 315 in the late 80's only one bus on each route used to be there. The K.R.Puram cable bridge was not there those days instead a very narrow bridge (Yet to be demolised under the cable bridge) and the double decker bus used to go thru the middle of the narrow bridge. BMTC should still opt for double decker buses since it can take atleast 50-60% extra load. Given the traffic speed inside Blore, the new doubledeckers should be a good option if not for a very fast service.
Request for Doubledecker Buses
Can we discuss with BMTC when we have the next round of discussions with regard to reintroducing the double deckers on straight corridors (high density routes).
Why?
to reintroducing the double deckers on straight corridors (high density routes).
Double deckers are not manufactured these days by the vendors, they go for articulated buses instead. Cost and availability will also be an issue. Is there a scientific reason for choosing one over the other?
Occupies less road space & additional load of 50-60%
Double deckers are not manufactured these days by the vendors, they go for articulated buses instead. Cost and availability will also be an issue. Is there a scientific reason for choosing one over the other?
AL still manufactures Double deckers as per their website. I am not sure about the cost difference between the new DD & Vestibule buses, but these DD buses will surely occupy less road space & can take additional 50-60% extra load compared to a single bus.
We need to check with BMTC regarding why they discontinued the DD. I guess the cost of operation could be 1 reason, since 2 conductors were on these DD buses, whereas now in Vestibule buses, a single conductor manages the ticketing.
http://www.ashokleyland.com/subproductsdyn.jsp?CATId=1&product_id=143
Though double deckers are
Though double deckers are useful in carrying huge number of people they still have some flaws-people have to stand in the lower deck ending up in blocking the doors and the staircases. It is difficult to balance and drive the bus if it gets too crowded. Also the speed of the bus is quite slow and in cannot be driven in areas filled with trees or narrow roads.
The pioneers of DD"s in India the BEST have also discontinued the DD's. even cities like London have brought an end to the huge vehicles on the road. So there must be a lot more reasons apart from the above also which have led to this.
@SS87, BEST has not yet
@SS87,
BEST has not yet discontinued Double Deckers. They had introduced a few new DDs recently as well. However, the authorities at BEST claim that the DDs are not economical - they are expensive to operate, and do not provide any financial advantage to the operator.
Plus, inorder to operate DDs, they need to constantly maintain a vigil on the routes these buses operate on, so as to ensure that trees are trimmed to avoid damage to the buses. For some reason, I feels DDs are not the way to go.
Thanks,
Binai Sankar
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Switch to Public Transportation, Save your city
London Double Decker Facelift
www.thestar.com/news/world/article/889078--uk-s-iconic-double-decker-gets-a-facelift
can certainly implement on certain routes IF BMTC AS THE WILL TO
Nothing is impossible for BMTC.............. BMTC can certainly ply any kind of buses(in terms of physical dimension) on any flxi route.............. ONLY NEEDED IS WILL POWER........................ When they can spend so much crores of money for TTMC's which are really useless ................ take for exaMple JAYANAGAR................. ....EXCEPT FOR BMTC buses using.... no offices or commerical shops are there in even after 2 years