This is an attempt to summarize all possible shortcomings with the existing (BMTC) public bus services, based on various comments on Praja & in general. Please add to this list if any more are needed. This could be used during the ongoing interactions with BMTC officials by the Praja Team.
- General Lack of Punctuality throughout the day, with some cases of unreliable services (?)
- Services during early mornings, late evenings & off-peak hours are too few, erratic & unreliable.
- Buses do not operate till their designated destinations; or buses follow non-regular route/s.
- Too many routes & route nos. that confuse users.
- Bunching up of buses – at a time many arrive & after that, there are no buses over long periods.
- TTMCs already in operation or those that are being built are at locations where BMTC has “land available”, & is not based on commuter needs.
- Lack of information to commuters about when a bus will arrive (no DGPS sets installed on buses to facilitate scroll boards at bus stations that announce arrival times, tracking, etc.).
- First mile & Last mile connectivity issues.
- Insufficient publicity & information on services, routes & other BMTC facilities, including On-line information.
- Some destinations have too few Volvo services, whilst others appear to have too many.
- Route rationalization, particularly with Volvo services, for better operational frequencies.
Please add to this list, if I have missed some, or add comments as necessary.
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Venu Sir - Well Noted
Mr.Venu :
Noted your concerns - that even on weekend mornings with lesser traffic, bunching does occur & that private players could possibly do better. For this to happen, the buses (be these private or BMTC) will have to have DGPS sets installed & a back-office mechanism to track bus movements & intervene to make corrections (as you rightly mentioned).
You mentioned that the transport company that you worked for ensures that buses arrive & depart on time. Could you tell us if these are intra-city or inter-city services, or are they operating for private parties ?
If the services are so good, then we should get such parties to operate & not the rickety, dilipidated buses that operate on Hosur rd & Bannerghatta rd during the day, particularly at peak times only.
Mangalore is a city that I know well. Bus operators are not very proficient & service standards are below average & unsafe, sometimes due to competition on roads between the many small-time operators. The city being smaller with lesser road vehicles, traffic delays are also much lesser & buses are able to maintain better schedules, no doubt.
You also mentioned about a Transport Regulatory Authority (TRA) to be set up with Guidlines on Quality of Service & that each operator must be given specific schedule and tracking to be done by the TRA, similar to Air Traffic.
I have also been mentioning the same, & this will have to be a pre-requisite to any efforts to introduce private players, & experiment on a few routes with high end volvo services to check the outcome.
Privatisation is not the panacea, it clogs the city streets
Hi all,
What is lacking for running an efficient public transport system is 'free movement roads'; even the available buses will be enough at least for another two years without introducing more number of buses,if road infrastructure is improved, dedicated lanes are marked, timings are maintained and scheduled trips are completed according to the running mileages and vehicles are maintained in good repair.
Asuming for a moment privatisation is allowed, it will open up a pandora box of paradoxical situations like - further creating chaos on roads due to manifold increase in number of private vehicles that compete against each other, create chaos and endanger the human species to further maraudering methods of mowing down with uncontrolled speed delivery systems.
No Sirs, let us Prajegalu try to use less and less of our private vehicles, let there be some legislation about the second vehicle registration in a family whether it is two wheeler or four wheeler (I hear that in Australia one cannot buy a second new vehicle unless one dispose off the first vehicle and prove it - E&OE). May be this type of control mechanism might work to ease the pressure on the roads.
-Vasanth Mysoremath
Privatization Moves for Bus Services
VKM Sir,
I fully agree that the process of privatization of bus services will be an ordeal for the bus-using public, pedestrians & other road traffic. It will most certainly open up a can of worms & extract a huge toll from the city before some sort of an order is reached. Most do not realize this & imagine that private buses will operate smoothly & improvements will begin immediately. This is because of frustration with BMTC, which certainly could do with many improvements, though it is the best public bus company in the country, possibly.
Imagining that services will improve immediately if private buses are also commenced is wishful thinking & far from true, unless one does it based on highly regulated models similar to what was done at Indore, which has used a successful PPP model & is providing good services now.
In this country, the govt is involved in many activities that are best left to private parties & their (govt's) job should only be to regulate & govern. As far as public transport is concerned, there are also a few other truths - The sector is more or less a 'No-Profit No-Loss' kind of operation in most cities & is dependent on subsidy one way or the other. Thus, they seek revenues & cross subsidies out of advertising, income from real estate holdings, govt largesse, etc.
In India, there are a few towns that use private bus services with meagre revenues, thus lacking in quality & safety standards & literally fight with one another for business.
Considering that the level of governance within the country is so pathetic, the govt is really in no position to run airlines, hotels, electricity boards, water supply resources, banks, insurance, telecom, etc. & must exit from as many of these as possible, & confine itself to regulatory duties & building capacities for enabling processes to effectively oversee most of these vital functions.
The transition from governmental operation/s to private bodies can be a formidable task, but will have to begin at some stage as loads & expectations from the populace is increasing all the time.
If regulatory bodies such as BMLTA are endorsed with sufficient legal power & capabilities, they certainly can bring about privatization in the city transport sector, but even this is a huge task, given the resistance by almost all govt bodies involved.
my thoughts
Naveen,
you have covered most. just wanted to add the below.
BRT Delhi Bus lanes
BRT strives against cars in Delhi
>>You mentioned that the transport company that you worked for ensures that buses arrive & >>depart on time. Could you tell us if these are intra-city or inter-city services, or are they >>operating for private parties ?
sorry if had created miscommunication in my previous post.
i don't work for any transport company. i work for a software company who's transport
operations is outsourced to a private party.
Venu
List of ills - we'd rather create a list of goods!
Hello all,
Privatisation would create more woes to the already crowded roads, and could end up in creating an even worse transport scene. Private transport - if handed over to a corporate body or a co-operative body would be a nice idea, but that is NOT a solution.
Currently, as many as 75-80% of passengers traveling in ordinary/pushpak/suvarna buses are pass holders. So, a private body should be allowing such passes - which may not be agreed to by the government. If the aim is to ignore current passengers and try to attract only new passengers, this would end up in a bigger fiasco.
Drawing a list of ills would be a futile attempt as far as BMTC is concerned, since it has more ills than goods. The basic concept of operations has to change. Currently more than 80% of BMTC buses run on single shifts. This has to give way to double - or even triple - shifts. Bus services HAS to begin by 0600 and has to go on till atleast 2200~2300.
The basic reason why buses tend to turn around before its end point is since there are no timekeepers stationed at terminuses. I was shocked to see that there are no timekeepers are most bus stations, and ground staff at bus stations are ignorant of services. Timekeeping is a must to ensure more discipline services.
The "bus card" should be "punched" at each end, indicating the time of arrival and departure. In Mumbai BEST, the time-card is not punched by the time-keeper (called as "starter" in BEST parlance) till it is 2 minutes prior to departure. The actual arrival time of bus is noted, and the staff are required to enter the reason for delay in the bus-card, before the starter signs on it. This is sorely missing in BMTC.
Volvo services are too lopsided. Services has to be rationalised. Today, for example, at KBS - a passenger asked a volvo driver if the bus would go to Bannerghatta. The bus was 365-B, which goes only up to Gottigere. The driver politely said - the last bus to Bannerghatta has already left (it went at 1730), and Volvos would go only up to Gottigere from now (1800). There is one bus late - at 1900 - which goes to Jigani. The bus is parked overnight at Jigani and returns only the next morning at 0700. During evening hours, the buses are operated at 1730, 1800 and 1900. Mind you, this is the evening peak hour.
I agree to the point that the ITPL sector does bring revenue, but wouldn't ignoring other sections cause a drain in revenue? In this case, the number of passengers holding "Gold" passes in the Bannerghatta Road sector is rising per day. I myself was considering getting one for this month, but later put it off due to the unreliable service. I am not ready to spend Rs 1750 per month to travel on ordinary buses - which I could, paying only Rs. 600 (for a Pushpak pass).
Bunching: Today, between 1730 and 1745, four buses left on Route #356C from KBS. The first bus could fill up about 80% of its seats, while the last bus had hardly any passengers in it. Why can't these buses be parked outside the bus station, and made to depart only at a specific frequency - or better be diverted to a different route on which there had been no departures for a while.
Double shifts is sorely needed for Volvo services. Buses from Depot-25 are operated on single shifts. One can see absolutely empty volvos with boards "D-25" departing one behind the other from KBS after 1715. Precious fuel is being wasted by running these buses empty one behind the other during evening peak hours. Instead, these buses could be run on on two shifts, with duties changing at noon hours.
I would stop for now, waiting for comments from others
--
Thanks,
Binai Sankar
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Switch to Public Transportation, Save your city
Thanks,
Binai Sankar
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Switch to Public Transportation, Save your city
Problems center around BMTC, Solutions need not!
Naveen and others,
Thanks for rekindling the discussion on BMTC and its operations. This is not the first time that these issues have been posted for various discussion threads. I am sure this will not be the last post on this subject.
One thing I noticed that the core of the issues is centered around BMTC and the possible suggestions also centers around making changes to BMTC and its operations. I see a fundamental flaw in that approach. Even though problems can be attributed to BMTC's inefficient and don't care for Public attitude. The problems discussed in this post and other posts are really not problems but symptoms of grave problems that are intrinsic to the mandate given to the BMTC.
Therefore it is imperative that we find solutions to the problems not the symptoms. Since there has been sea change in the operational philosophies of public utilities, there has to be sea changes in planning and design which would be radical and at times most unpopular to the NAY Sayers.
In past and even as recent as few weeks back, the approach seems to be that to make some cosmetic changes in BMTC's operation. Since the problem lies some where else, these efforts did not bore the expected results even though the intent and objectives were all good and sensible. The fundamental reason for failures in these attempts is that symptoms were attended to, but problems remained untreated.
A good example is, More Buses (ABIDe's recommendation) was the treatment given to the Symptom of irregular service. Where the problem of was that of the whole routing and schedule scheme that BMTC follows.
One approach I would suggest is to first design/plan /implement the comprehensive Road Based Public transport system , in which buses, taxis/cabs, autos, tempos/vans all play a role. The sensible would be that a PT authority like BMLTA assumes a decision/planning authority, accountable for the PT needs. Once the plan is in place, changes can be brought about using the existing infrastructure to the hilt and augmenting the gap with newer players and resources.
Example is, once the plan for routing and schedules are in place, use BMTC's to be as the primary/largest service provider given its resources, fleet, personnel. Allow the private players to augment the areas where BMTC can not like feeder service, specialize contract service to IT/BT parks etc. New areas and new routes to be operated on competitive basis by allowing private players.
Here is one such suggested model (My apologies if you have already seen this).
www.slideshare.net/kbsyed61/road-based-public-transport-v1
BMTC should ban unofficial
BMTC should ban unofficial boards, like those written by hand. Only boards obtained from depots should be displayed which should be tracked properly.
Actually there are more services during early morning hours due to the ability to sell passes. I think this is because of the commission structure of BMTC. If some one can give more details on the commission structure, the discussion could be more meaningful. They run more buses when they can sell more passes that is in the morning and dont run enough buses in the evening, that is my experience.
Bunching of buses is actually allowed even at the depot where they record the bus timings. If there are thre buses to a destination, the inspectors allow all 3 buses to leave at the same time. Another thing is I believe is that BMTC wants from the drivers is the number of trips not punctuality. If there are 3 trips in 8 hours, I think, the buses complete all the 3 trips in 5 hours and go home!
Private buses
Two things can happen with private buses and inadequate regulation. One is there will be too many buses, like every 2 minutes. But rights of everyone else in the road will be violated. They will go too fast and obviously cause more accidents. To escape from cases, they will bribe everybody police, transport authority etc. Even now see the private buses running in Bangalore, I am sure they have made some illegal modification to their engine, they are at least creating noise pollution. They all should be reinspected and fitted with speed governors.
Other scenario is there will be too few buses. If the rule says they have to stop in stop for say 2 minutes, they will not go even after 20 minutes till they have the number of expected passengers that is 5 times the capacity. The bus will be so full that people wont be able to breath.
Differnt categories
from KBS to DBS ...
My 100,000 feet comment on the question of 'what is lacking' is this - 1. a system of incremental and continuous improvement WITHIN the organisation, and 2. a strong external force of public interest groups and persons lobbying in a concerted way to support bus-based solutions. In some ways, I hope we can change that - it's the only way to get away from the 'KBS' mentality of old and move to a 'data-based', 'direction-based', and 'deliberation-based' system of public transport.
Some more Big10 info - weekly EPKM from on-board ticket sales increased again last week, giving us five straight weeks of such increases from the time of the first full launch (i.e. buses running on all 10 roads) and we're now close to the profit point in epkm terms, which I think is quite good for a new service. I'm optimistic that we'll get there in early June, even if the number of buses is increased by about 30% before then.
14 new buses have been delivered by the workshop, and 7 are in service already (3 on Magadi Road, 2 each on Hosur and Old Airport Road). The other 7 will go into service this weekend (route assignments to be made today).
A
PUBLIC TRANSPORT/BMTC
Bangalore Public Transport/ BMTC As a loyal patron of BTS/BMTC for many decades (before and after retirement) I would like to give a few suggestions.
- It is well known that the majority of the travelling public of Bangalore (60%-70%) use BMTC for their daily commuting. The remaining 30%-40% comprise private transport (2/3/4 wheelers) and also pedestrians who cannot afford to use such transports.
- The Traffic/Transport systems existing/ envisaged are not giving due importance to the majority of the users, but are focusing only to the minority private transport vehicle users as they are more vociferous and influential.
- This lopsided policy of the Traffic and Transport departments is the root cause of the many ills and woes of the citizens.
- The policies should be revised to focus on the requirements, convenience and comforts of the majority Public Transport users.
- The one-way road systems being implemented have put the Bus commuters to severe hardships as they are denied access to 50% of the destinations which exist on such one-ways as these cannot be accessed from the reverse direction and the reverse routes/ bus stops are nowhere near their original bus stops which have been eliminated (e.g. – One cannot access Cash Pharmacy from Indiranagar).
- BMTC have been introducing many new routes and new types of buses like Volvo, Suvarna etc. without consulting the actual users (commuters) as there are no Commuter Forums (which existed some years back).
- This is resulting in such new routes being under-utilised resulting in heavy losses to BMTC which have to be passed on to the users of regular buses by keeping the fares highest in the country. (The bus fares in neighbouring Cities like Chennai are only one third the Bangalore fares- e.g. It is Rs. 5/ only for 16 KM.).
- Due to monopoly of BMTC they run the buses in the routes which they think are needed as none of the decision makers ever have first hand experience of travel by their own buses regularly.
- To make the BMTC officials have the taste of their services, it should be made mandatory for them to use only their BMTC services for all official and private requirements and all official cars etc. provided should be withdrawn. In exceptional cases cars may be allowed if valid reasons are given as to why they cannot use the numerous types of ordinary and luxury buses of their own services. This will open their eyes to the practical difficulties of the commuters who are exhorted to use Public Transport discarding their private vehicles.
- Whatever lacunae are found by such officials should be reported and speedy actions taken to set them right.
- Commuter Forums (not Resident Associations, as not all of their members travel by Public Transport) should be formed/revived to get feed backs at regular intervals.
- Wherever the large BMTC buses cannot reach, MINI bus services should be introduced to cover every nook and corner of the city. (Such services by both Public sector and private sector in neighbouring states like Tamilnadu are benefitting the public immensely providing frequent services at very economical fares without any subsidy).
- If the BMTC do not consider it feasible to run such MINI bus services, the Govt. should ask private operators to run them. This will provide healthy competition to BMTC and improve their efficiency, thereby benefitting the commuters in more ways than one.
Many other problems and solutions are being already discussed in this forum. I am not repeating them here. K.V.PathyKudos to Big 10 but feeling sad for HOHO
Prof. Mahesh, I too saw the Big 10 services running good and full. But as I said earlier, one has to do 'circus' and loose time in waiting to change over from one Big 10 to other by taking HOHO. So there is a need for merger to 5 so that there is no need for HOHO to change the routes. Route should look like 5 Metro lines.
Also, I had suggested to add another Big 5 to make it 10 along the CTTP recommended high traffic corridors including the proposed Metro route until the Metro is functional.
HOHO looks like an utter failure to me. I regularly see only driver and conductor riding in the HOHO. I think it is the high time to take some quick decision to continue with Volvos or to move on to smaller vehicles like Tata Winger or Innova operating in same / revised routes of HOHO.
Outer Ringroad is not having continuous premiere bus services. There are Volvos operating in some parts of ORR, but not full stretch. We have the 500 and 501 bus services running in clockwise and anticlockwise, but no premiere services.
Why not put the HOHO Volvo buses on the ORR and put mini vehicles for HOHO routes?
Also, please let us know the status of Airconditioned buses for Big 10.
Buses and One ways
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JUFUvMjAwOS8wNS8xMSNBcjAwMjAx&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
There are solutions (and they have been used in past in Mumbai for decades).
We have been pushing for contraflow bus lanes in Pune and hope to see these also on JM and FC road (despite not getting clear evidence for benefits of one-ways, we have tried working with the PMC and Police to agree to oneways provided buses are prioritised).
For seeing a 7 minute video compilation on contraflow bus lanes in London, visit http://driving-india.blogspot.com/2007/04/bus-priority-page.html
ASJ
www.driving-india.blogspot.com
www.driving-india.blogspot.com
Hello
Hello Vasanth,
Prof. Mahesh, I too saw the Big 10 services running good and full. But as I said earlier, one has to do 'circus' and loose time in waiting to change over from one Big 10 to other by taking HOHO. So there is a need for merger to 5 so that there is no need for HOHO to change the routes. Route should look like 5 Metro lines.
I feel that Big10s should not be integrated. As a passenger travelling by Big10s on a daily basis, I would say, merging them would only make it yet another bus service in the City - somewhat like the MBS concept. Instead, they should just run 'across' the kendra-sarige ring. That is, buses currently terminating at Bridage road, should be extended to BRV Grounds, and those terminating at BRV ground to Brigade Road. This provides slightly better connectivity, and helps in faster connection.
For some reason, HoHos never work as a connection. Typically, passengers traveling on BG Road/E-City Big10s are predominatly headed to Shivaji Nagar. As a daily routine, passengers (including me) would get down at St Patricks Church, and get into a bus going towards Shivaji Nagar. Using a HoHo would mean traveling a circuitous route via Mayo Hall-Trinity Circle.
In effect, HoHos are not used even by connecting passengers. As a daily passenger, I would also argue that Big10s would die a death very soon. The concept was really good until it was implemented properly. These days, it is not uncommon to see buses returning to depots at 1700~1800 cancelling their evening trips. It so happened to me on two consecutive days, that I was stranded at Brigade Road from 1800 to 1845. On one day, I reached the bus stop at 1755 hoping to get into the 1800 BG Road Big10. No buses on this route turned up until 1830. Two buses turned up together at 1830, and both were allowed to proceed one behind the other by the warden posted at Brigade Road. On the next day, I was at the bus stop at 1745 itself. A bus turned up only at 1830, and teh conductor announced that the bus would depart only at 1845 (That was his scheduled departure time). So, where did 4 buses disappear in between? (There is a bus every 15 minutes from Brigade Road). The crew are now bent on failing this concept too. Buses disappearing during peak hours is surely not a healthy sign for any bus service.
Ever since this happened, I returned to traveling via Shanti Nagar instead of waiting forever at Brigade Road. Shantinagar atleast provides more connectivity.
--
Thanks,
Binai Sankar
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Switch to Public Transportation, Save your city
Thanks,
Binai Sankar
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Switch to Public Transportation, Save your city
Maintain ordinary buses clean
While we are all talking about Volvo and other premium bus services, we have neglected the ordinary buses. The ordinary buses are supposed to be clean but the lazy system isn't doing it.
There has to frequent inspection by BMTC top officials and easy-to-access customer redressal (ordinary bus travellers should be able to air their problems easily). BMTC has call center number 12667, but how many can access it?
Ordinary bus users don't have access to internet like us, and I'm sure if they did, praja.in would be flooded with posts that highlight different issues.
Ordinary buses are in large numbers and if maintained well, it can cater to all classes of people (except for summers when some people need A/C). Of course their timing and tracking are important too.
About route numbers, being a regular I've got pretty familiar with routes. Also I can ask people in bus stops and they are more than glad to help. But we can have a better system. Most bus stops do have a route map indicating bus numbers but they are not updated perhaps neglected.
About bus not going to their destinations, classic example is buses belonging terminating at Kamakhya even if they are supposed to go till Vijayanagara (500 serives buses). This happens elsewhere too, and people choose not to raise their voice and accept this as their fate.
I hope praja.in gives an ear to ordinary bus users rather than just the Volvo's/Big 10.
Big10 routing ...
> "I would also argue that Big10s would die a death very soon".
I'm amazed by the number of people, especially at Praja, who keep telling me to prepare for failure :-) I Look, things can fail. That's life. I can only try, and be educated by the data, which currently says Big10 revenue is rising every week. If it starts to taper off, it's something I'll certainly think about.
But I've learned over the last couple of years not to be influenced by anecdotal evidence too much. You have to understand that your travel situation is such that it would be adequately served by the kind of Big10 revision that you're suggesting. I don't know if that is representative of most users of the Big10 now. I also get a lot of email from other people, who have divergent things to say about the service, and there's no clear pattern I can see.
To understand this, I've collected 2000 O-D pairs, and am looking at them now. BMTC is also doing some studies on its own. And we'll see what decision about Big10 makes the most sense once these are understood.
About the 'cancellation' of evening schedules - your observations are correct, but your interpretation is wrong. I am aware of this problem, which has to do with 'depot assignment for schedules', and am working on it. I also think that as the number of buses rise, this problem will come down.
A
Thanks for the Update Prof. Mahesh
Thanks for the update Prof. Mahesh.
Mr. Binaik has another perspective. But, I feel the merger of Big 10 to 5 would benefit more, probably when we have more Buses in fleet so that frequency is not comprimised. This will become a truly Direction Based.
One more request is to have the frequency intact from Morning 6 to evening 11.
Also Sir, please work with the MBS routes and FDR routes and provide more frequency on the MBS routes and popularity with advertisements in the news papers.
Another this that needs to be looked into is the design of a good mini bus prototype both airconditioned and non-airconditioned city buses which can go into nooks and corners of Bangalore.
Prof Mahesh, About the
Prof Mahesh,
About the 'cancellation' of evening schedules - your observations are correct, but your interpretation is wrong. I am aware of this problem, which has to do with 'depot assignment for schedules', and am working on it. I also think that as the number of buses rise, this problem will come down.
I would be happy if you explain as to what was interpreted wrongly. I find it really amusing to see services from Brigade road to Bannerghatta/Electronic City being operated by Shanti Nagar Depot - this depot is no where on the route of the bus. This is one reason, I find, for trips being cancelled during evening hours. Buses of Depot 2/3 that arrive at Brigade road between 1740 and 1830 invariably return to their depot - the interesting part here is that they don't carry passengers between Brigade Road and Shantinagar. (They could carry passengers, and whatever little collection that comes would atleast help reduce the fuel cost burden).
Ideally, buses should be operated by depots that are - either on the way, or at one (or both) of the routes destinations. About half the buses (or more) on Big10-4 (BG Road) are operated by Depot-27. These buses start operations early in the morning, and I have seen them working even late at night. On the other hand, I have seen buses of Depot 2/3 starting operations only at around 0800, and ending way before 1800. (This is purely my observation - papers could say something different).
The reason why the service was predicted to "die": Staff attitude. Staff have to change attitude if the service is to succeed. Short termination of peak hour trips would no-way encourage a passenger. In my case, When I take the pains to walk 1.2km from office at the end of a tiring day, I expect to get a bus within reasonable waiting time. In my experience, I ended up walking 15 minutes under the hot sun, only to wait for 45-60 minutes to get a bus - again under the hot sun. After being tired of waiting, some passengers (me included) asked a conductor (of a bus heading to Depot-2) if he could take us to Shantinagar, he rudely said NO. I am a very contend passenger using this service every morning on my way to work (although I end up having to change buses for a very short distance). I would only love to see this service improved a bit further. Some more advertising, and may be some "boards" at bus stops indicating the route and timings of the bus would do wonders to this service.
--
Dear Vasanth,
Mr. Binaik has another perspective. But, I feel the merger of Big 10 to 5 would benefit more, probably when we have more Buses in fleet so that frequency is not comprimised. This will become a truly Direction Based.
Infact, by merging Big10s, you would only make matters worse. By Merging Big10s, the MBS concept is being replicated as well. Currently, Big10s carry a huge crowd from suburban areas to the city centre (barring a few routes where the opposite takes place) during morning hours, and the return during evening hours. By merging them, half the route is "directional" and the other half is "anti-directional".
Irrespective of the number of buses, the frequency is bound to decline over time when the route length increases. Crew schedules would become longer. The current concept works very well as a "point-to-point" service. Merging them would only spoil this concept. Morever, merging could make the concept a failure if the chosen points refuse to work.
Instead of merging Big10s, the MBS concept needs to be refreshed. Start new MBS routes (somewhat mimicing the "proposed" Big5 concept) and run them with better frequency. MBS services lost their identity with most MBS buses being used on non-MBS routes, and normal buses working MBS routes. Buses painted in MBS livery should be used to operate MBS services.
As you had mentioned, MBS services require better frequency and some advertising. The best way out is to erect boards at bus stops detailing the Big10/MBS/KS/FDR routes that stop at the said place. Add their numbers and timings, along with details of the route (the destination atleast). Mumbai's BEST used to erect boards at bus stops that had route numbers, destination and important points enroute written in English and Marathi. This concept could be replicated in Bangalore as well.
Another this that needs to be looked into is the design of a good mini bus prototype both airconditioned and non-airconditioned city buses which can go into nooks and corners of Bangalore.
The current MiniBuses (Swaraj Mazdas) are too uncomfortable to ride. The seats are narrow and the leg space is bad. There is no place to stand either. Instead, cut chassis buses (or the likes of Ashok Leyland Lynx) could be used. These buses are slightly wider than Swaraj Mazdas, while being shorter than normal buses. Ashok Leyland Lynx is powered by a 137HP engine, which would be sufficient for AC services as well.
--
Thanks,
Binai Sankar
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Switch to Public Transportation, Save your city
Thanks,
Binai Sankar
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Switch to Public Transportation, Save your city
Mr. Binaik said: 1. By
Mr. Binaik said:
1.
By merging them, half the route is "directional" and the other half is "anti-directional".
I agree that half the route they will be crowded and other half (which will be opposite the mass) less crowded. But what is the problem with this? Even for Big-10 routes, buses have to be sent in the opposiet direction to get the crowd. In fact, for Big-5 routes, two buses will start from the opposite directions (like big-10) carrying the crowd, and instead of turning back, they will go into opposite directions.
2.
I like the idea of minibuses though. These should be run on not only the smaller roads, but also on routes where current frequency is more than 30 minutes and double their frequency. Personally, I would prefer all roads in Bangalore which have more than 4 lanes to have buses with max 10-15 minutes frequency so that people can travel where ever they want by changing route at the intersections of these roads.
3. I think we should also allow shared taxi concept like Mumbai for last mile connectivity. It is available at the churchgate station and may be other places. This should be available at the current big 10 terminating points both in CBD as well as the suburban points. For 4 passangers it will work at Rs 3-5 per passanger per KM or can be fixed price for drop anywhere in CBD. BMTC can operate this service or use the current private operators tied for BIAS services. The taxis can pick-up passanger based on telephone bookings in reverse direction - but this may not be shared. The current KS buses can be redeployed at the big -10/5 routes so that those who want better comfort can have that. Anyway, many big-10 routes already have standing passangers during peak hours.
Sanjay Chitnis
Rajarajeshwari Nagar needs more buses
Suvarna, Volvo services from this area is also required. There are too many volvo buses on ring road from Vijaynagar to Banashankari, none cater to Rajarajeshwarinagar.
Its time someone took note of this route as alternative route.
Another alternative route for the volvo buses is via Gandhi Bazaar towards Agara, ITPL and Electornic city.
Sridhar
Bus stops
Another concern is the location of bus stops. Is there any consideration about the distance people have to walk to get to the bus stops? Have some bus stops been moved because of illegal lobbying in the interest of big establishments coming up near them?
on bus-stops
abidpqa
See page 12 of doc below for requirements of bus-stops
http://www.filesanywhere.com/fs/v.aspx?v=896d6886596476a76f9f
Suhas
Suhas
VAYU VAJRA
HI,
Most of the airtraffic in airports happens in the morning 6-9am and also in the nights when international flights arrives (12-2 am). but the unfortunate part is Vayuvajra services are not available duding these timings. The earliest flight u can catch by taking a vayu vajra is 9 am flight.. as bus schedule starts only by 6am? can bmtc look into operating vajuvajra in these time zones?