Big-10 & Hop-On /Off

If we see the HOHO map, there is unnecessary looping around the Majestic area. A worker around  Vidhana Soudha for coming to Corporation which is done by most of the people, if they take Orange Line, they will go to Cauvery Bhavan passing KR Circle, Majestic, Maharanis and Again pass through KR Circle and  come to Corporation Circle which will take atleast 45 minutes in the Majestic Traffic.

An auto will cost 14 rupees and will hit Corporation Circle in around 10-15 minutes.

From Cauvery Bhavan on the KG Road till KR Circle in the loop, both Orange and Blue Line go side by side which is again duplication.

Basically people want to go on the fastest route in Bangalore whenever they take car or 2 wheeler. Already there is a wait time for the buses which kills time, above which unnecessary looping will kill time infinitely and will be unattractive. Usually few people working around Vidhana Soudha, area get down at the Corporation Circle and take the Auto via the Central Library Road where buses do not enter, few get down at Mysore Bank and wait for very few bus series coming from Market to traveling towards Basaveshwara Circle or take an auto.

Consider the example of a shopper who comes to Avenue road to buy books. While coming from Southern / Eastern areas, he has no problem since KG Road is one way in the direction he travels. While going back he has to go to Majestic or to Maharanis / Corporation Circle. He again has to wait  for very few bus series coming from Market to traveling towards Basaveshwara Circle or take an auto.

On the other hand, every minute there are 4 to 5 buses travelling towards Majestic from Mysore Bank. Having both Orange and Blue line take this route is wast of time and fuel.

Definitely this design should be reconsidered with only one or no route entering KBS. 

Is the route changed now?  I do not see too many of them now on Kasturbha Road. 

Your trip will not be any more consistent how many ever times you try. The horse was taken to the water... the rest is being demonstrated.

I dont think BMTC can inculcate the consistency and reliability into their culture. It all comes down to the fact that it is ultimately a govt org and the line workers (the drivers conductors etc) will run it as such. Take disciplinary action and you will be dealing with unions.

Does PPP sound better than privatization? But, what I do know is the current crop are not the guys you will want running the buses.

vinod_shankar

Great job. Thanks for posting your experience on BIG-10/HoHo ride. Hats-off to you for your courage/enthusiasm to try the ride one more time. Please do post your 2nd time experience.

Vinod, by the way I am also a resident of J C Nagar. Currently I am in US. I can almost feel the experience you gone thru. We have no option except to raise our voice and get it to the ears of civic planners.

From your experience can you post a brief summary of issues that you would think that can help people like you to ride BMTC service with confidence and ease? May be a list of issues you found during your ride and the possible fixes for that you would think can make this service more useful.

If you are interested, you can join Praja team that works on BMTC issues. Pls PM me your email address I will hook you up with the team.

Syed

By adding  approximately 15 Parisaravahinis @ the cost of 2 volvos will increase the frequency and does the pass integration helping everyone. Let this be 5 rupees and Volvo 10 rupees. Running Volvo at 5 rupees to give publicity to the idea is taking a white elephant around town without spectators.

HOHO is a good idea but not sustainable because of the high costs involved. It was done to promote car passengers to use buses who may or may not use that when already there are so many passengers with monthly passes waiting in the bus stand without bus. Serving both class of people should be considered.

       Yesterday afternoon about 2pm, I happened to see 4 blue line buses entering JC road within a span of less thn 20 minutes. Surprisingly, all the four were absolutely empty (expect the two neatly dressed souls- driver and the conductor!!). If this is the case, I dont see the need for such high frequency.

      Additionally, why cant BMTC put these Volvo in to other routes (instead of making them useless). I know some of these Blue-coloured KS Volvos have been used on 45G and P10 routes. Its time the BMTC converts the KS from a Volvo-only to a mainly-Suvarna fleet. That will reduce the cost of the tickets for commuters, bring more people into these buses and aid BMTC to reduce its losses.

     As a thumbrule, the BMTC should not introduce any new routes on a Volvo only fleet. People have a fixation about the 'high' prices of Volvos. Once people are convinced about the utility of the route, then they will start using the route, be it on a Volvo or a ordinary bus.

-Srivatsava V

The issue with the way we are approaching the problem of solving the public transportation mess is that we are employing 21st century buses built by a world class company like volvo and putting it in a third world country like India with 19th century infrastructure planned and (mis)managed  by politicians&urban planners with an 18th century mindset.  If the govt wants riders to come flocking to the HOHO's and Big-10..there definitely is a way..people regardless of their attitude and mindset follow the path of least resistence and most comfort. Provide world class infrastructure dedicated to buses to enable timely and efficient service..people will flock in droves.

What matters is building infrastructure confirming to standard specifications and then have standards and specifications for operating on that infrastructure (down to the last detail of where buses should stop and how they should overtake); then leverage an IT backbone to manage the fully integrated system (sadly the IT capital of India shows neither information nor Technology nor innovativeness outside of the plush MNC offices).

If there is one single person whose experience and expertise is desperately needed in all of Indian cities it is Enrique Peñalosa . I would request all readers to read this post of mine which basically outlines what I think is the solution for sustainable integrated public transportation network which integrates buses, cycling and urban planning -

http://bangalore.praja.in....

I really think Bangalore and other Indian cities should go a step further than what Bogota of Columbia & Curitiba, Brazil have done - we should have tree lined multilane freeways (at least 3 lanes each way) for uninturrupted signal free travel for buses and this network must be integrated with bus stops, hub terminals, cycling paths and namma metro. Once such an infrastructure is designed (in participation with private entities on a PPP model) govt as well as private parties must be allowed to ply buses. Only those parties adhereing to strict specifications and operating procedures must be allowed to ply. And drivers should be made to go through a rigorous mandatory training on how to use the infrastructure.

Sadly the current mentality of planners in bangalore is to chop every tree in sight to widen roads then lay a magic box the size of a match box such that the road narrows magically..so, of course, when hordes of indiciplined drivers(cars, 2 wheelers etc.) are mixed in with menacing BMTC beasts..it just leaves a bunch of angry frustrated citizens in an increasingly polluted city with ever disappearing greenery and gridlocked roads. Oops..I forgot to mention the hordes of unruly passengers who rush to the middle of the road even before a bus can come to a halt. The photos and videos in the post I referenced have all the knowledge there is to get a decent system up and running...the question is, is there - will, sincereity and leadership to execute it? Knowing the state of affairs I think the primary focus would be on fighting over what language should the boards of the buses use for displaying the number and the destination.