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BMTC service to BIAL - personal observation
Written By George E Matthew - 26 May, 2008
BIAL Bangalore BMTC public transport
On Sunday evening, I thought I would observe the BMTC service to BIAL (called BIAS-Bangalore International Airport Service) from Trinity Circle. I had no intention of traveling to the airport, -I just wanted to know how reliable and convenient the buses were.
The website of BMTC had a list of buses and stops, however the exact location of the stop was not very clear.having lived here a quarter century, I knew where the bus stop was(in front of Taj hotel) but outsiders would have problems.
the bus stop is shared with normal city buses-pro or con I do not know.
There is a signboard near the bus stop with timings of the buses to Airport -both AC& not AC. When I reached, I saw one Vajra Vayu9AC volvo bus) pass and stop. Correct on schedule-good.
I then found a man and woman in a car looking for the bus stop to the airport. I directed them to the place, and we kept watching. According to the sign, the next bus was to come in 15 minutes. It was an non AC bus
After 15 minutes, a non AC bus did come, BUT DID NOT STOP. It just drove on, far away from the kerb and did not even look at my sign to stop. No problem, I told the waiting man, the next bus will come in another 15 mins.
After waiting half an hour, the there was no sign of a bus. The man's wife decided to drop him to the airport. In a few minutes, 2 Vovlos came almost back to back. what had apparently happened is that one got stuck in traffic, making it so late that it was almost time for the next one which happened to be in time.
Thus, despite being sufficient buses, there is still a deficiency in service. Remember, the real passenger I saw did not get a bus. he may NEVER use BMTC for airport services again, and that will be a tragedy as he will block the roads (with his car).
With a few MINOR fixes, all would be well:
1> All buses must stop all all designated bus stops. Instruct drivers suitably.
2>Improve website with exact locations of stops.Click on the stop anem to get directions.
Both the above will cost only a few thousands to do at most-less than 1 tank of bus fuel and much less than the fare collection of a single trip. But without it, we will increase the use of private transportation and create lots of jams.Please convey the above to Mr Tripathy, those in contact with him.
PRIVATE PARTICIPATION
Please do not allow private operators to run buses. I have seen them drive rashly, break signals and care nothing for passengers/road users etc. This is not only limited to unorganized sector, but also to the organized sector such as KPN, Dugamba, sharma etc. Yesterday , during my observations, I sa a bus belonging to SRS Travels(vendors to all big IT cos like Infy, Wipro etc.) break a signal,swerve across the road cutting offf a 2 wheeler and make an un-authorized pickup from the BMTC bus stand. Thank God nobody was killed/hurt. in short, NO private buses EVER. NOT NOW, NOT NEVER
However, this kind of minor service glitch on the part of BMTC is not acceptable.Perhaps, BMTC does not understand the "higher end" customer, having catered to only the lower end customer till now.Maybe it can lease its vehicles(with driver) to a private operator who will provide a good customer interface which has:
- Nice helpful website
- Good advertising publicity
- English speaking call center with polite operators
- English speaking, polite conductor on all buses.
Let all fare revenue be split between the private operator and BMTC. Routes can be defined in advance, QoS worked out etc. Let a private company with hospitality experience take over for customer service.
this is similar to the PPP agreement made by Railways for Golden Chariot train-let everyone focus on core competency.
COMMENTS
George E Matthew - 1 June, 2008 - 17:48
Thanks everyone for your responses. No need to call me sir-I guess I am younger than most of you :)
The trafic was unusually bad on Friday as the chief minister was being sworn in. That accounted for the delay. Another factor was that Fridays are unusually busy days-saw that in Airport.
Whatever the case, changes/reform/privatisation of bus services cannot solve anything. BMTC is not the main problem, traffic is the problem. Please keep that in mind during all discussions about this topic.
Mr Sanjay Chitnis has good suggestions that can be implemented. As some of them involve networking with corporates, it may be a good idea for the Praja team.
To answer te questionaire of Mr Suraj Shekar:
Name of passenger, contact no-
Loacalite or an outsider?-Local
Place, date and time of boarding-Taj Hotel, 6:30PM
1. Were u able to locate the bus stop/pickup point easily?
Yes, but only because I am familiar with the area. Theere is a board with timings at the bus stop, but the directions on the website are not too good. Needs improvement
2. How did u get to the pickup point (if travelling towards BIA)? walk/auto/bike/car/BMTC bus/BMTC taxi/Other taxi/Other bus/Others(specify).
On foot
3. If BMTC taxi was used, was it punctual and the driver courteous? N/A
4. Was the bus stop/terminal clean?
Roadside bus stop, pretty crowded.
4. Happy with the amenities there? If not what is reqd?
If you can have a separate bus stop for air travellers, with amenties, it wil be nice. Please charge money for that/hand over to private parties
4. Did the personnel guide u in to the right bus?
There was only 1 bus with clear BIAS display-not relavent. At the airport return journey, the personnel were very helpful in finding bus, loaidng baggage etc. Way to go!
5. Did the bus start/arrive on time? If late, then by what margin?
Bus started on time-reached late due to traffic.
6. Were the crew courteous?
Yes. Many were able to converse with outsiders in English.
Please note my reasons for asking about English lanaugae speaking personnel. I fully suport Kannada, having grown up here I can speak the language easily. I belive that all long term residents must learn Kannada. I am insisting on English only because the airport by nature thas to handle foriegners/Indians from other states.
7. Are the seats comfortable?
Were much so. Bus quite clean
8. Happy with the entertainment inside the bus?
No video screen unlike normal Volvo. Please provide route map, posisiton on screen like other Volvos
surajshekar - 30 May, 2008 - 23:26
Great narration George Sir and one must really appreciate your patience. I could visualize the happenings by reading your post. Can u say that the volvo travel helped you conserve some energy for posting your experience on the same evening? If it did, it has served its purpose.
The last mile connectivity + lack of amenities at pick up points+ the traffic problem till hebbala are affecting the reliability of BMTC service (and of course air travellers' schedules) towards BIA.
People seem to be patronising BMTC quite well on the return journey from BIA. When I went thru my huge backlog of unread posts on 'Praja' regarding BIA connectivity, I understand that on day 1&2, passengers on vajra towards BIA were 2 or 3. One week down, it seems to touch atleast the 2 digit mark. Not bad! On the return journey, buses seem to have good occupancy right from day 1. Thats encouraging and will surely help BMTC with its image problem IFF it sustains the service level and builds on it further.
This indeed is a very crucial time since the first impression on the passengers is THE IMPRESSION. If BMTC can be flawless on aspects fully under its control, it will help them and our Bengaluru. By these "aspects", I mean- Courtesy towards passengers, Co-ordination of buses at BIA and pickup points (not messing up like KBS), timing information, route guidance, etc.... All this seems to be in place so far.
My only concern is whether they are happy with the "collection" ? Any inputs on that? I am sure that they'll be monitoring it closely. BMTCs "money-mindedness" should not affect this service or its quality.
They certainly have done some homework. They can further build up on it; pool in suggestions (from praja and 'on the spot' from passengers); act quickly and attract more people. Real time passengers can always give the best feedback/suggestions bcos they can easily spare 5-10 mins to fill up a feedback questionnaire inside the bus. I can imagine it to be something simple and purposeful like this-
================================================
Name of passenger, contact no-
Loacalite or an outsider?
Place, date and time of boarding-
Profession-
route no-
destination-
flying to/from which place?
1. Were u able to locate the bus stop/pickup point easily?
2. How did u get to the pickup point (if travelling towards BIA)? walk/auto/bike/car/BMTC bus/BMTC taxi/Other taxi/Other bus/Others(specify)
3. If BMTC taxi was used, was it punctual and the driver courteous?
4. Was the bus stop/terminal clean?
4. Happy with the amenities there? If not what is reqd?
4. Did the personnel guide u in to the right bus?
5. Did the bus start/arrive on time? If late, then by what margin?
6. Were the crew courteous?
7. Are the seats comfortable?
8. Happy with the entertainment inside the bus?
Any other suggestions-
Thanks for your valuable time. Assuring you of best service always,
BMTC
===============================================
Data collected by way of this can be used for a lot of analysis like-
1. What people like about the service and what it lacks
2. Depending on place of boarding, delays can be plotted and we can narrowdown to the most "unreliable" or problematic zones
3. Passenger density can be analyzed on the route at different intervals in the day and some rescheduling be done if reqd. ex: If most travellers from ITPL to BIA on friday evening are catching Delhi bound flights, then the buses can be planned from ITPL side, inline with the delhi flight timings
4. Assess what categories of people expect what?
5. Area wise Feeder services or the modes of last mile connectivity used. ex: People in Jayanagar may user auto while those in EC or ITPL may use taxi. So move some taxis towards the EC hub and ensure availability
many more like these.....
Two small suggestions from me-
1. Have a drinking water dispenser (25 ltr can with tap) and a tumbler inside the Vajras since routes are long and are susceptable to delays. It can be on a self-service basis. Ideally, this can be complementary(but not compulsory) as in Airavata. If commercials dont work out, keep half litre bottles and sell them on request.
2. Keep some newspapers, magazines (both kannada and english) for 'time pass'
I was waiting for a long time to post this. Trust it helps. It can be relocated by admin to a more relevant place if needed.
Cheers
Suraj
Naveen - 26 May, 2008 - 11:20
Mr.Mathew - read yr post with interest.
For the buses to be on time on the dot every time, they have to operate on seperate lanes, without obstructions or hindrances by other traffic. It's a pity that they possibly lost a prospective customer due to the erratic nature of traffic, delaying buses & in this case, being unreliable & not dependable. This is why people resort to private vehicles since buses remain largely dependent on traffic conditions, & become unsatisfactory.
The bus stops & timings should be better marked - hope they learn this as they go along operating the service.
narayan82 - 26 May, 2008 - 11:11
mailabode - 26 May, 2008 - 11:27
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