Commuters fume: Where are our buses?

Bengaluru: In the absence of a commuter rail network and a full-fledged metro, BMTC buses are the only means of connectivity for the citizens of Bengaluru. However, most of the major routes lack the required number and frequency of BMTC buses.

While only 50 lakh Bengalureans take the public transport, another 50 lakh rely on private vehicles adding to traffic and pollution chaos. Neither the agency nor the government seems to be doing anything substantial for the only available public transport. Despite bus lanes being created by BDA at most of the flyovers, till date there is no sign of Bus Rapid Transit System.

Commuters in majority of areas are miffed with the services of BMTC. Commuters traveling from Marathahalli to Whitefield have been demanding more number of BMTC buses for a long time but in vain. They claim that majority of BMTC buses ply towards ITPL or Varthur. In fact Volvo buses plying on this route too are less and one has to wait for minimum 40 minutes to get a Volvo bus. The story is no different in other places. Rajeev K. from Koramangala says, “Electronic City and Koramangala are two hubs and still the frequency is pathetic. I have to wait sometimes for 45 minutes.”

Sanjeev V. Dyamannavar, member of Praja RAAG says, “A few years ago there was a project to connect the interiors from the main road. Gradually it faded away. There is no direct bus from Hebbal to Yelahanka. Then except 500 series there are no buses from KR Puram to Whitefield. Again there is no pedestrian facility after one gets down from the bus at Hebbal. This will eventually instigate people to stop using BMTC buses. The number of buses at Outer Ring Road too has reduced significantly.”

Currently BMTC has 6,300 buses plying across the city. BMTC IT head Biswajit Mishra says, “The buses are spread across the city equally, although there might be a difference of frequency or it might be less. However, we are trying to have a systematic approach to the issue. We have introduced a section in the website where people can demand new buses for a route.”

Majority of bus shelters in the city are in pathetic condition and residents are left to bear the brunt of rain and sun. The bus shelters are in fact ill-equipped to handle the crowd as most of the people are seen standing on the road. Commuters say at times it is extremely difficult to identify which is the bus stop because there is no sign, no board or shelter. BBMP, which is responsible for the construction of bus shelters gives the same bureaucratic reply to DC that tender has been called and soon all the bus shelters will get a revamp.

Bangalore has 2,400 bus stops and only 1,400 have shelters. Several bus stops which originally had shelters today do not have shelters for a variety of reasons - because they are stolen, because the shelters were in local MP/MLA names and these were removed by their opponents when the said MP/MLA lost, because the shelter was damaged etc.

Excerpts from interview with BMTC Managing Director Ekroop Caur
What is the demand of the city currently? How many buses have you requested from the government?
The requirement and demand is double the present number of buses. Across the city, we need to increase the number as well as the frequency of buses. However, we have requested for 3,500 buses now.

Any request for women specific buses?
No, we haven’t made any such demands.

What is being done for bus shelters?
BBMP is responsible for the bus shelters. They definitely need revamping and upgradation. BBMP have in fact called tenders for the very purpose. Apparently, there was some technical glitch due to which the work got delayed.

What has been the major challenge for BMTC, considering the demand is very high?
There is a limitation to what we can do with the revenue that we have from rolling stock to managing the depot operations and all other things. We cannot increase the fare, if we do so, in some time people will stop using public transport. We want the state government to augment in such a situation and
support us.