Public Transporation - Is there a better way to handle it?

I can't agree more on charging based on duration instead of length. Currently BMTC either indirectly forces you to buy expensive daily passes or shell out more money when you need to change a bus. More often than not people need to change buses and each change cost lot of money.

If you look at private buses operating in south Karnataka, they charge 30-40 ps per km while BMTC charges sometimes as much as Rs 5 (because of stupid stage concept). Even travelling 5 km distance with 3 buses can cost you as much as Rs 20-25.

I have strong objection for Volvo buses, they are highly cost in-effective. No one has looked at the cost benefit analysis. So called intra-city/low floor buses cost 80+ lakhs while Pushpak buses cost 16-17 lakhs. i.e 5 pushpak buses for every single volvo!!!

Isn't it ridiculous to pay 80+ lakh's on these called "low floor" buses? Same volvo inter-city buses (used by long distance operators) charges 40-45 lakhs. Incidentally both intra-city and inter-city volvos are B7R models. Inter city B7R have more luxurious interiors like recljning seats, music system/TV etc.

Low floor buses also have very uneven floor, have big steps inside, need to climb a step to get into seats, have very poor legroom, hand rail is very high for standing passengers and with frequent breaking, standing and travelling becomes hell as you will start swinging.

Obviously Volvo's have nice AC, good shocks but definitely these features doesn't justify sky high prices for these. You can easily put A/Cs for Pushpak's (perhaps might cost additional 4-5 laksh?).

Pushpak's have better seats (more reclined, softer), better leg room, even floors.

BMTC should stop burning money on white elephants called Volvos, instead run -

1. Ordinary buses 2. Pushpaks (with double doors like ordinary buses) 3. A/C pushpaks.

Fair prices for these buses is Min Rs 5 for AC Pushpak, R 3 for Pushpak,  Rs 2 for ordinary. For every 2 km addition, fare can be increased by Rs 2, 1, 1 for 3 kms.

Alternatively Rs 15/10/8 for 2 hour pass. 

Big10/Suvarna/Atal Saarige etc need to be discontinued as they are confusing the travellers. Despite the claim of BMTC of having "Air Suspension", Big10 or Suvarna have no better shocks or seats.

Did you observe that Big10/Suvarna are trying to mimic volvo on exterior design but have goofed-up on the windows. They have small sliding windows and makes extremely hot during summer. Also the sliding support bar for the window comes right at the eye-level and people sitting can't easily see the outside.

I will agree with a number of points that have been raised about the Volvo such as it being expensive compared to the pushpaks. I also agree that the seats could be more comfortable than what it currently is. But I need to point out a couple of advantages that Volvos have which really makes a difference.

The Volvos are low floor at least from the point of view the passengers getting in and out of the bus (even though you need to climb some steps to reach the rear seats). And they have really wide doors. This allows the passengers to get in and out very quickly. They also have a much more powerful engine than the Pushpaks. This allows them to make frequent stops and yet maintain a good pace. I use the Volvos regularly and have found that during my journey from ITPL to my home that they can easily keep pace with the two wheelers and most of the four wheelers on the road in spite of making frequent stops.

Please note that I have no particular preference for Volvos. If any other company can produce at a lesser cost, a bus with a low floor and a powerful engine comparable to the Volvos, then BMTC should certainly go for it. But my understanding is that they evaluated the TATA Marco-polos and were not happy with its performance.

And we cannot just assume that it is possible to replace one Volvo with 5 Pushpaks, There are lots of costs to running a bus other than the initial procurement costs. There are significant costs related to running each schedule like the wages of the staff, cost of fuel, maintenance etc.

BMTC have been running Pushpaks for the past several years. However only after introducing the Volvos were they able to get a significant section of two wheeler and four wheeler users to switch to using public transportation. It may not be very evident to everyone that this is happening. But you just need to stand somewhere near Marathahalli in the evening to notice this. Between 5:00 and 8:00 in the evening there are a large number of Volvos running on this route and all of them are fully packed with hardly any space to even stand in the bus. I am surprised that people are willing to pay a premium price and yet stand through most of their journey. I am sure that if you replace these Volvos with regular Pushpaks, half of their regular users will switch back to their private vehicles.

By the way I need to point out that BMTC already runs many services which doesn't touch KBS. The 500 series running on the outer ring road and to ITPL are an example. And if you count the Big10 serivi ces they seem to have made a start with providing grid like services.

@Srini_mr -

Isn't it ridiculous to pay 80+ lakh's on these called "low floor" buses? Same volvo inter-city buses (used by long distance operators) charges 40-45 lakhs. Incidentally both intra-city and inter-city volvos are B7R models. Inter city B7R have more luxurious interiors like recljning seats, music system/TV etc.

Are you saying that BMTC is being billed almost double (compared to the private long distance operators) for the low-floor modification, but, minus the better seating, interiors, etc? How sure are you of these figures?

Further, 'public bus transport services' is a subject that has been discussed widely on PRAJA, from inception, almost two years back. May be the participants in this debate would like to go through some of the earlier debates - to begin with this.  
 

Will any one in the know of things respond?

K.V.Pathy