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welcome vinay, sure enough, this condition that you cite is not lost upon folks here. Some really observant folks here have pointed out that there are some gaping holes in BMTC routing. I am pointing you to a very approximate source, but look around this. It will be great if you can post some specifics. What are your travel patterns? if it is generic enough then it might be worthwhile to consider if it can be suggested to the BMTC to ply such routes. if you are serious about this, look around and dont hesitate to chime in.

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Vinay

Instead of BMTC, if TVS (my first exposure to TVS was as the public bus transport service provider in the city of Madurai - before emergency) or TATAs were operating the bus services, and within some 3 months of their starting the operations, they

1) set up a comprehensive web-site detailing out their operations, based on professional demand assessments,
2) run comfortable and clean buses, with destination boards clearly written in Kannada as well as English,
3) have courteous conductors who don't short-change you, or foul-mouth you if you don't speak Kannada,
4) provide the "Yelli Iddira?" service so that you track a bus and reach the stop in time to catch it, rather than waiting indefinitely not knowing when or if it will come at all,
5) provide skeleton services between 10 PM and 6 AM;

would you then not choose to leave the car at home and take the bus? Any way, that's what I'll do.

And, when more and more people start doing that, and if the government facilitates the process by disincentivising use of individualised forms of transport through measures such as

1) levy of congestion charges in crowded city centres,
2) barring of entry in narrow road stretches, during peak hours, etc,

the buses will be able to travel faster, helping them make more trips, and thereby improve their revenue earnings. This will then go on to improve riderships, providing further boost to the revenue earnings, thereby motivating them to improve their services.

If you ask, "why can't this happen with BMTC?", my answer is "it will perhaps happen once there is effective competition; but, not without it". And, when that happens, it will be win-win scenario for all concerned.

For more, click on:
http://praja.in/blog/murali772/2007/12/12/better-bussing-green-bangalore

Muralidhar Rao

PS: Shastrigale' - calls for a fresh survey

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Murali:

You asked: "would you then not choose to leave the car at home and take the bus?"

My answer: YES, I WOULD TAKE THE BUS, LEAVING MY CAR AT HOME!!!!! As I mentioned, driving within Bangalore these days isn't my idea of fun :-)

I read your article on 'Better bussing for a green Bangalore'. I do agree with almost all action items outlined in the article. Thats the way forward I guess, but again, will it be implemented??

Tarlesubba:

The link you have provided: 'look around this' seems to be incorrect.. Anyhow, my route is from M.S.Ramiah area to Whitefield. In general, it involves a walk to new BEL road bus stand (20 mins), bus to BEL circle (20 mins), bus no. 500/501 till K.R.Puram (45 mins), bus to Whitefield (30 mins) and final walk (10 mins). Add a total wait time of 20 mins (all three stops combined) and the total is approx. 2.5 hours. And this is the 'best case scenario'; the travel time could increase, especially on the K.R.Puram - Hoodi - Whitefield route, as could the waiting time..

Of course. this is the 'Normal BMTC' bus, no idea about Volvo, since I have not been to Bangalore for nearly a year now and the Volvo concept was just catching on when I left..

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Well, in my office located on Bannerghatta Road, most of them are from nearby places living in Basavanagudi, Jayanagar, JPNagar,BTM or Banashankari.

Our office is getting to shifted to Sarjapur Road to its own campus. Most of the employees are planning to leave the company and plan for another office on the Bannerghatta Road, so am I.

Now, it takes from these mentioned places not more than 30 minutes of commute. Earlier most of the colleagues were 'car' savvy. Now, they have realized it infact delays the commute and back to earlier days of 2 wheelers. In those days, it was difficult to find parking for car in the campus. Now car parking is easily available. Also office bus was also started which reduced the car population.

I myself was travelling in a small car. It used to take not less than 45 minutes. After reverting back to 2 wheeler, it takes around 20 - 25 minutes only. Fuel bills have reduced to a large extent. Some people say safety .. this .. that.. to use the car. But, hardly we will be travelling at around 30-40 kph. Not much impact will happen. Ring road/major highways should be avoided to avoid trucks and buses. As a private vehicle, these economical 2 wheelers are better. Many Bangaloreans (80%) still do not have access to cars, even if they have, they cannot afford to run. It is so easy to goto a hotel on your bike, you can park it right in front and get inside. So much headache to find the parking and park in case if you are travelling in a car.  I personally feel as a private mode of transport, 2 wheeler is easy for Bangalore. Car is good if travelling along with the family, on rainy days, late nights.

Lots of 2 wheeler drivers (mostly relocated from rural areas to Bangalore) drive very hapazordly without showing any indications, turning right-left. These guys are accident prone.

Media and Surveys only compare between Cars and Public Transport and never on these 2 wheelers who form the major chunk of the private transport.

I would say, we should plan for nearby office compared to way far off office. Buses (Company provided or BMTC) are advisible. If not, 2 wheelers along the internal roads are an easy go to the office.

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How do I use public transport where there is none? The following is my personal experience:

When I’m in Bangalore, I drive to office everyday. It will take me at least 2.5 hours to reach office if I try to travel by BMTC (including waiting time). I will need to change three buses, and there is no guarantee that the buses will arrive and run on time. Spending 5+ hours everyday just commuting is an inhuman experience at best. By car however, I can reach in approx. 1 hour by using the ORR.

In addition, I generally end up spending a fair amount of time in Office once I’m in, and the average time I leave office is 10:30 PM. I simply cannot expect to travel by BMTC at this time. First of all, the frequency of buses at that time is almost NIL, and most routes do not run at all. Add to that the dangers of hanging around on bus stops in Whitefield late in the night.. it does not matter whether you are a college girl, or a retired banker, or a young IT professional. Bangalore is getting to be an unsafe city.

I don’t get any great pleasure by driving on the clogged roads of Bangalore, in the midst of rascally auto-drivers, thuggish BPO/Call center cab drivers and drunk truck drivers. I don’t enjoy spending Rs. 300+ on a daily basis just to get around. Driving to work is a compulsion for me, and one I would gladly get rid of.

Most of my acquaintances who drive to work are in a similar situation. They would prefer not to drive, but they need to, coz’ they don’t really have a choice.

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