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Plans for BMTC's Rome need redrawing
Written By Naveen - 6 February, 2010
Bangalore BMTC Bus Bus Stops suggestion Transportation public transport
BMTC has made a start on one front for building their Rome: by increasing bus inventories & increasing the number & types of services. Most other areas are still struggling to even get blueprints ready. Thus, we seem to have many attractive buildings put up haphazardly & with poor lighting in BMTC's Rome.
I think the effort must start first with the underlying principle that during peak hours (ie. 7.30-10.00AM & 4.30-7.00PM), at least one bus must pass through every bus stop in the city at least once in 10 mins. The frequency must be much higher (say, a bus every 2 or 3 mins) on arterial roads.
Secondly, a commuter should not have to worry about the no. of transfers & increased cost. He will only have to pay a pre-determined, fixed ticket price based on the distance between his point of origin & his destination, irrespective of how many bus changes he makes or where he makes them.
This will result in people becoming less-hesitant of changing buses & will embolden them to board any bus that arrives & to change buses at convenient node/s toward their destinations. Bus stops would thus keep getting cleared faster & this will help in reducing over-crowding on many buses.
During off-peak times, service frequencies of a bus (any bus) every 20 mins (in interior area stops) & 5 mins (on arterial roads) must be adhered to between 6.00AM & 10.00PM. Night services can be less frequent & operated based on neccessities.
This is also in keeping with plans to change the system to direction-based services eventually. With bus services becoming more dependable, this might also help boost patronage. The increase in bus inventory necessary for this might be marginal & not excessive.
I think we need to recognize that a well connected bus system in the city with route planning to meet each one's needs with frequent buses & limiting transfer to just one would require an enormous increase in the number of bus schedules, & there is the risk of many buses running empty for most part of the day. Thus, such a step might be unviable, economically.
The next to tackle would of course be dissemination & spread of information, improving punctuality & making bus transfers easier by planning bus-stop locations.
COMMENTS
swaroopch - 6 February, 2010 - 16:56
I think we have good bus facilities currently, but it sorely needs a good information system, for example, timings of buses, and equally important, which buses to go where (and what connections to take), that would be brilliant. I know btis.in is doing things of this nature, but a system that is available on-the-go when I'm at the bus stop is what is needed.
That, and all that you have listd would make it a paradise.
Good no. of buses, but dependable ?
Naveen - 7 February, 2010 - 05:56
Swaroopch,
The feedback so far by many has been that wait times are long, even during peak hours & buses are quite unpredictable, with poor connectivity to certain pockets.
Possible reasons for this might be that passengers look for direct connections (to limit daily commute expenditure, to a certain extent) &/or that buses do not ply at pre-determined schedules, if such schedules have been made, & even if they were made, there might be lack of sufficient monitoring to ensure that they stick to their routines.
At the same time, we know that BMTC has added a very large no. of buses, so buses & schedules need not be insufficient & are there to be utilized by one & all. Despite this, why is it that many find them erratic & inconvenient ? Information about buses & routes is certainly poor, no doubt, but it is much more important for buses to operate exactly according to pre-set schedules - & this needs close monitoring for compliance.
How do we bridge all this in a city that has CBDs & businesses thrown in nearly everywhere & where there is a huge maze of travel directions that one can't even possibly imagine ?
To do away with wait times & make it affordable for commuters, I think the strategy should be to stagger bus times to ensure higher frequency of buses passing at all bus stops as opposed to concentration of frequency on individual routes.
ss87 - 7 February, 2010 - 10:05
One time users only must have the probloem of non-direc buses and cost factors. Regular users anyway have the pass option. Irrespective of distance travelled and number of buses changed there is hardly an increase in the cost. A Rs.600/- pass is normal for a regular user who can use all the non-ac buses with it. Then there is no need for waiting for a direct bus. Even non-regular people have the Rs.32/- pass to travel the whole day. These things definitely minimze the cost and there is no need to wait for a direct bus anywhere;a non-crowded bus can be used to cover 50-70% distance and remaining distance can be a crowded bus will not be a problem.
Naveen - 7 February, 2010 - 11:48
Ss87,
Individual trip ticket users form the majority of users & pass holders are a small minority (abt 2 lakhs out of some 35 lakhs ?). 600rs pass holders can of course change buses at will, but there still seem to be many who seek the available direct routes within their scope for travel & dislike the idea of changing buses. Why ?
If they (ie. non-regular users without passes, who are in huge numbers) are free to change buses with individual trip tickets, it might improve services for them, though this will have to be tested to be proven as efficient - thus, it may be worth a shot.
pathykv - 11 February, 2010 - 10:29
When the conductors are issuing tickets of dozens of denominations, what difficulty will be there to keep one more pass of Rs. 24?
K.V.Pathy
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