From past 1 month, I have been travelling in BMTC from BSK 3rd Stg to Doddenakundi. Although office has provided shuttle service, timings are inconvenient. On demand, our office is providing shuttle service every hour to Marathalli Bridge and Old Madras Road.
I am using V500K from BSK 3rd Stg to Marathalli Bridge, from there I have been taking any bus that comes since it is only 3 stops on the ORR towards KR Puram.
Following were my observations:
1. Morning hours from 7:30 - 8:30, there is no problem at all. There is a 500K almost every 5 minute and one 500K will end up overtaking other 500K many times. Buses are almost filled from Vijaynagar itself with 3-5 seats left. Sometimes end up standing, but after 1 or 2 stops I get the seat. There are a series of 500 Volvos 500W starting with ISRO Layout, 500C starting from Banashankari, 500KM starting from Kalyani Magnum on Bannerghatta Road. All these buses will be competing with each other. But, even then there is lot of crowd for these buses. BTM onwards all the buses gets crowded.
2. Evening hours is the major problem. I come to Marathalli Bridge stop from Doddenakundi in whichever bus that comes since it is 3 stop journey and pretty fast. At Marathalli Bus Stop, before 5:45 PM, we get lot of buses. After 6PM, it becomes difficult. Frequency of 500 series Volvos are very less. Buses which comes are full with even no space to stand. It is so hard to stand in Volvos because of the pickup and sudden braking compared to normal buses. Most of the Volvos will be carrying the board of Agara Depot. Agara Depot will have many Volvos resting after doing the day's duty, whereas passengers will be struggling hard to find a bus in the bus stops.
3. Fares: Fares are pretty OK until Marathalli Bridge. After Marathalli Bridge it becomes exhobirant. BSK 3rd Stg to Marathalli Bridge is 26 rupees whereas BSK 3rd Stg to TCS gate is 45 rupees. Fares are very inconsistent. V500D and V500DB charge me 5 rupees from Doddenakundi to Marathalli Bridge whereas V500A charges 8 rupees. The conductor takes money and doesn't give ticket. Suvarna costs 6 rupees whereas normal bus costs 5 rupees. Ironical is that Suvarna charges more than Volvos with the same type of bus and same number of stops.
4. Seats : Earlier Vajras had good seats just like Intercity Volvos. Those had very comfortable seats. Next generation Volvos have decreased the legspace to increase seat rows and the bucket seats are good for smaller journeys. For journey upto ITPL which is 2 + hrs, I felt these seats are pretty uncomfortable.
I am getting back to office bus due to the lack of buses which causes lot of inconvenience in the evenings.
Suggestions:
Start Suvarna or Pushpak backup buses for the 500 series Volvo buses.
Provide connectivity using Suvarna and Pushpak to all the southern areas.
Big Circle Buses which runs only one half of the circle between Banashankari and Hebbal with very reduced frequency. Big Circle buses should become like Big 10 and should run throughout the ring road. It will help the ring road passengers.
My home is walkable from Ring Road and office is on the Ring Road, still have to hop on and hop off minimum 2 and sometimes 3 buses.
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Volvos becoming 'Kai Thoridalli Nilluve'
BMTC Volvos have now become like passenger trains with 'Kai Thoridalli Nilluve'. Drivers and conductors have some margin in the amount of tickets paid. It is good when I get a bus that stands in front of me when I am approaching bus stand. But, people are misusing it and standing in a place nearer to home, showing hands and getting onto buses.
When it is getting delayed to the office and when the buses are doing this 'Kai Thoridalli Nilluve', it gets frustating. Normal buses are not doing this and they are more faster on the ORR except for the fact there is no A/C.
My own experience
I too have been taking BMTC quite frequently in the last couple of months. I have found the experience fairly decent. The best part is not having to drive. I take the 500C buses quite often and have also taken 2 to Majestic a bit.
a. The 500C service is excellent. Buses come every 5 minutes and take about 1 hr from Jayanagar 5th block to Kundalahalli Colony. But during peak hours the buses are packed from ITPL towards Banashankari (7:00 p.m. onwards) and there are not enough buses.
b. I agree with Vasanth on Volvo buses stopping wherever they see a "giraki". Not okay.
c. Bus stops - my pet gripe. Buses don't stop at bus stops for some reason. Most stops don't have shelters from Silkboard till Marathahalli.
Continuing on bus stops (on Route 2) I observed that there is not a single bus stop on JC Road. There is one at Minerva just before JC Road starts and then there is a bus stop on a TRAFFIC ISLAND opposite town hall. That is the state of affairs. This is a 4 lane road and I can't imagine why there cant be place for a bus stop somewhere in the middle. Most buses don't stop at Banappa Park on KG Road as well.
At KBS there are absolutely no signs on the connector platform as to which routes start from which platform. This used to be there long back. I can't understand why this has to be the case.
Sampige Road on the other hand has enough bus stops - Circle, 8th Cross, 15th cross and 18th cross. That is how it should be in an important residential area.
Corporation Office bus stop on Mission Road towards Jayanagar is an absolute mess. You have to see it to believe it. People all over the place. Buses narrowly missing each other and pedestrians. I am sure that each group of destinations can have a set of bus shelters.
d. Costs - I think BMTC is quite expensive. The ticket cost is Rs.11 from RV Dental College to KBS. Then Rs.7 on 273 from Majestic to Malleshwaram18th cross. This is not cheap by any standards.
With the sort of infrastructure that BMTC has they can do a much better job.
Srivathsa
Drive safe. It is not just the car maker which can recall its product.
Badly need the YI and web tracking of buses
Gone are the days of YI tracking. It was such a nice feature taken away by BMTC by not paying money to the service provider. Delhi has started the service of bus tracking via sms and web.
Without knowing if the bus will come, I may have to take auto or take another crowded bus etc.. BMTC is saying installation of PIS in key bus stops. When will this happen? But, YI tracking is a more cost effective solution.
BTIS.in shows the online information of Big10 and few other buses, but, the information is not proper. I can see V500K standing in Majestic or in some other locality which is not at all present in its routelist.
BMTC new website is also another waste work without any improvement being seen other than look and feel. I don't know how transport minister inagurated it in a big function without proper functionality of the website!!!
He also inagurated 140 Big circle buses which are not seen on the ORR yet except for the old Banashankari and Hebbal route buses plying as usual.
Morning Travel is Excellent - Evening is the problem
I am still continuing with BMTC Vajra services. Morning travel has been excellent, evenings are the problem. Every 10 minute, there is a 500K from 7:00 to 8:30. 500P, 500KR and 500C is additional option for those coming after Banashankari.
Evenings are the only problem since the buses go to depot very early. Atleast till 8 or 9 we need consistent frequency as provided during morning hours.
BMTC website became worse than what it was. How could they launch a non-functional website? How much money did they spend on them?
Corporation Bus stops
More than the Central Bus Stops I generally change buses at the corporation. The stops on Kasturba Road,K.G.Road,Mission Road and one in front of Coporaation office are all in a huge mess. The main reason is due to the presence of many signals before the stops. Once the signal releases all the buses rush one behind the other making it totally horrible. all the stops people are required to run behind the buses like anything.
One main thing that can be done is proper utilization of place. The gap between the bus stop towards market and signal one more stop can be constructed where buses to jayanagar can stop. The remaining buses going to Hosur Road , Bannerghatta.Road and sarjapur road can stop after taking theleft turn. This will enable a shifting of few buses and fewer running.
Similarly on the Kastubha road, buses bound to Old madras road can stop a few metres away at another stop and buses to airport road can stop at existing bus stop.
@ss87
Very good suggestions. Additionally they can have some buses skip that stop and run a different route.
The very fact that corporation is having so many buses and has become the interchange instead of Majestic as intended speaks volumes of the routing issues BMTC has.
Same mess at Banashankari and at East End on ORR
Banashankari Bus Station is also having the same issues as corporation circle. So, if I get a bus which ends at Banashankari, I get down a stop before that (Sangam Circle at the end of RV Road) and take the continuity bus. It is so hard to track and get into bus in Banashankari Bus Stand.
East end bus station near the Bannerghatta Road is having similar problems towards Silkboard. Buses coming from Majestic to BTM (25) series and the buses on the ORR merge here causing a mess. Then they have to take steep right to get onto Bannerghatta Road Flyover which further causes mess and disrupts straight moving traffic.
Mostly all junctions where
Mostly all junctions where the buses flowing into the bus stop depends on a single signal have this problem. Though 25 series stop at the end of the road they struggle to take a left at junction when other buses pour in. It si tough to board the bus there also. the situation at the next stop is also worse due to its presence very next to the flyover and signal being very far off. To minimize this it is the BMTC and BBMP who have to co-ordinate adn make proper arrangements along with the traffic police to ensure that commuters do not suffer.