COMMENTS

So, let the BMTC meet the social needs, and let the private operators meet the high-end needs (where BMTC is any way losing money), which is what my opening comment in this thread was all about. Very clearly, the BMTC is not in a position to retain the custom of people like Vasanth, as also the likes who have posted here and here, who are far more demanding, particularly on reliability, than the 'old strap-hangers'.

An estimated 43% of the trips are on BMTC buses in bangalore as per CTTP survey, & their volvo bus patronage is increasing as per recent reports - these are facts & is not wishful thinking. Not everyone will find buses the best of convenience for their needs - this is true of every city. The example is Vasanth, who finds it convenient for travel in one direction whilst he finds it inconvenient for the other. A few dissenting voices are always to be expected when it concerns PTs, but this minute sample is not enough to draw conclusions from. Your conclusions appear to be merely wishful thinking as I mentioned before.

why don't they allow private players in areas (like shuttle services, apart from the high-end services) where they have openly stated that they find their operations unviable?

BMTC has recently stated that high-end bus operations have become viable with increased patronage - so, there is no point in repeating that they are unviable each time to justify your rants - it doesn't change anything. If it is unviable for BMTC, it would be even more unviable for private operators since they may find it even harder to meet costs with only bus operations & no other sources of income. We know the kind of low grade private players we have. If allowed to enter the scene, they will misuse the terms of the license & provide sub-standard services as highlighted by Vasanth. This is why city bus privatization cannot be done so easily in this country, nor anywhere.

In Chennai, for example, there are these auto like contraptions with long benches fitted. After disembarking from a bus at Annanagar, I once asked such an auto if he would go to 13th main (I wasn't sure where it was other than that it was near the bus depot). The tempo driver stated that he would go if there were four persons, or if I was prepared to pay 50rs. I later took an ordinary looking auto, who made the trip for 30rs for barely a km. So, what is different about them from our autos for last mile options ?

BMTC's operations on the other hand are anything but business-like.

Exactly - they are also meeting social obligations & trying to meet costs by generating revenues from real estate & advertising. No well run, organized PT in the world is run purely for business - revenues are generated from diverse other sources, which in turn are used to subsidise bus or train fares. BRT operators are the only private operators run independently as businesses, but even such operations are with publically owned infratructure. Thus, there are high investments & costs initially to the city.

I suggest you research & read further about how PT operations are run elsewhere & how costs are met before continuing to canvass for private operators of the kind found in Kochi or Mangalore. Privatization, if to be done for large Indian cities, must depart from the conventional methods that you prescribe & needs far more introspection than merely quoting telephony or airlines.

the Vypeen island forming part of the Kochi corporation used to figure in the Guiness book for the highest population density in the world - may not be now.

As you admit, it does not have the highest population density anymore. Further, when I referred to population & city size, it was obviously with reference to the number of vehicles & traffic on the roads & the much larger road safety risks if such third-grade operators were let loose on the streets.

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I agree with Naveen that a beginning has to be made. But not by BMTC, but by the Govt., outside BMTC.

There is no use having all apprehensions and post-poning indefinitely. I have seen in the neibouring State Public and private operators running side by side and compete in a healthy fashion

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Travelling from HAL to KBS once during peak hours, I also noticed most volvo buses (routes 335E, 333P, etc) running full with no place to stand on most buses.

The above article makes clear that volvos are well patronized & accepted by bangalore's commuters. Passes are selling well too.

So, comments by a few that they are losing money & are too expensive may seem misplaced & incorrect.

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I don't understand why BMTC has separate rings for volvo buses in Majestic. This kills the usage in routes other than ITPL and Electronic city and makes them run under losses because frequency of normal buses is much higher. No one would wait for these buses in the volvo rings in that case and they would ply empty. This has to be rectified soon for the other routes to start making profits.

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@SB
You had labelled yourself as a 'fence-sitter'. The other epithets were not meant for you. Those were specifically reserved for the types who find any criticism of their favourite BMTC a rant, even when made by the likes of Mr Pathy, who undoubtedly is the one best qualified to talk about bus services.

So who is running a campaign? What and where exactly do I have to join?

So, you haven't seen this?

By taunting myself and others, don't think you are wooing people towards a campaign that I know you would certainly start some day :)

Well, nobody need do it for my sake. There was this talk about meeting 'social obligations'. The biggest contribution any one can make in this regard is to campaign for far greater efficiencies than at present in the key infrastructure areas of public bus transport services, power distribution, and water supply, since the lack of it affects the poor the maximum (you and I can buy our ways out of these problems - but, even there, there are limits). And, to achieve that, we can't allow the status quo to prevail. And, the change has to happen now.

As far as bus services in the city are concerned, what you have today is a lousy (well, at best mediocre) service, provided by a monopoly government service provider, which can't meet the needs of the city, and which in turn is resulting in a hundred other problems. There's an immediate need to open up the sector to private players - period! Once that's accepted, the rest follows. You can't wait for the most perfect of regulations to be put in place before the opening up. Even in the other sectors, all of that happened simultaneously, and, as the stake-holders gained experience, the regulations went on getting evolved. And, it's a continuous process. If the government announces the opening up, CiSTUP can perhaps write out a regulatory framework within a week, at the most - that's all there's to it.


@Skumars
When we talk of city bus services, you bring in talk of 'auto's' (the earlier mention) - then, it's apple to apple for you. But, when city and inter -city comparisons are made, then it's not apple to apple! If you want to argue against a point, you can find a hundred different ways, right? Besides, how much of an apple to apple scene is it when the private players have to operate with their hands almost literally tied behind their backs, as compared to the BMTC and even KSRTC who enjoy all the privileges? Put them all on a level field (at least a little less sloping), and you'll see the difference. Actually, even the inter-city private operations are not totally legal, and that's why you are not finding the real big players coming on inspite of the huge opportunity. But, the situation is apparently a bit better than in the case of city services, and that's how you have players like VTR, who are perhaps the first to introduce the multi-axle VOLVO bus services.

 

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