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PRAJA Saarige not to be, atleast for now
Written By murali772 - 13 August, 2010
Bangalore Infrastructure Corruption Bus Citizen Reports efficiency monopoly Transportation public transport governance Traffic
After a persistent pursuit, through registered letters, RTI queries, appeals, etc, targeted primarily at the Commissioner for Transport in Karnataka, he has finally got the the RTO, Koramangala, to write to me officially to say that I cannot be issued a license to operate 'majilu vahanagalu' (meaning 'stage carriage', I guess) in the city. And, that if I want any help with bus services, I may approach the BMTC. The letter copy is attached. I presume my interpretation is correct.
Now, I would like to pin a large share of the blame for the city's increasingly difficult traffic conditions on the poor public bus transport services, which is resulting out of the monopoly status of the government service provider, viz the BMTC - check this, this and this. And, I can't understand why monopolies should continue in today's world, particularly in fields like public bus transport services. And, it is very much within the state government's powers to open up the field to competition from private players, which is in fact what the S M Krishna government had done in the case of cities other than Bangalore, leading to the birth of Bendre Nagara Saarige in Hubli-Dharwar, and similar services in other cities, benefitting all the stake-holders concerned, more specifically the commuters.
If there is enough support here, I shall make out a fresh petition to the government, and perhaps follow it up with a PIL, if need be.
Muralidhar Rao
COMMENTS
saravankm - 15 August, 2010 - 14:06
Also, Should BMTC be running contract trips that too using JNNURM buses to the tech parks and private companies at the peak hours when the general public is not adequately served?
idontspam - 15 August, 2010 - 17:48
when the general public is not adequately served?
How do you prove that it is the tech park buses that are the cause of that inadequacy?
Private Transport [Praja Sarige] may not be a panacea as such
psaram42 - 16 August, 2010 - 06:29
I agree that transport is a real bottle neck in the day to day life of our city of Bangalore. The topic is a pin prick for us in Praja especially the IT crowd. However allowing public transport may not be a panacea as such.
The examples of private school busses come to my mind. Recently this topic of crowded school transport appeared in the news papers. Pictures of children being packed like sardines have appeared in these reports.
Murali’s effort is laudable. He has succeeded in this herculean task of getting a reply from this government though in the negative. I support murali in his fight to get whatever he wants from the government.
I do not know however why Bangalore cannot try to emulate a “BEST” like example of the metropolis called Mumbai, for its public transport system, even with allowing private players like Murali sir.
silkboard - 16 August, 2010 - 07:53
Anatharam sir - it is unfair to put IT crowd color on this demand supply gap in Transportation space. It is a basic need for all those who can't affod to live right near their place of work. At a high level:
- One sect of working class wants to live far from the city, cost of housing being a driver
- Another sect wants to save on fuel costs by sharing rides
- Another sect (high income group mostly) wants to save time, and wants to minimize commute time.
The needs are distance, money and time.
These needs are NOT being fulfullied to city's satisfaction today.
Aggressive outsourcing, or tight regulatin driven open market seem better solutions, because BMTC had had a run for a decade now, with good but not good enough results. If you want to to raise the bar (of our expectations), unofrtunately, monopolistic ways will not help.
Murali - please do run with this, with time you should get support from some silent readers.
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