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BMTC and possible open-market proposals or experiments
Written By silkboard - 11 September, 2009
Bangalore BMTC Bus suggestion competition Transportation public transport
We are coming off from this debate. Idea is to leave the debate, and talk specific proposals. There have been some high level talk on the subject from Murali, asj, myself and more, which are around how to open up city transportation market, market size, and good and bad parallels for this from around the world (London, Mumbai, Delhi etc).
Murali, Naveen - I think there is a way for us to join our energies. See, the points for common grounds are:
- Need for a statewide regulator, from safety, amenites and pricing perspective. Refer these maxi cabs in Bangalore and Naveen's alleged dangerous drivers in Mangalore. Both require regulators. On amenities front, refer the contrasting bus stands (public and private) at Channapatna.
- BMTC's statement that local shuttles are unviable business. Not sure if their statement is on record, but we have heard this on some forums. Refer Murali's own business plan for Koramangala shuttles, and Narayan's old proposal about TTMC driven local shuttle serrvices.
- Poor performance of BMTC's "high-end" service - Vayu Vajra. Lets be fair here - BMTC tried something pro-actively and with good intentions - it assumed something anyone else would - that air travellers will need nice a/c buses. And this was a destination oriented service. But it hasn't worked. Whether its pedestrians or top company executives, people are either dying or getting hurt on NH-7 every other week, and Airport vajras haven't seen good uptake for same reasons we discuss so often - bus stands, information about services, time it takes relative to a taxi, last mile connect, bus interchange problems etc.
Now, our goal is common - make about 15-20% of car commuter shift to buses. Or, have BMTC/PT carry 55-60% of city's commuters. Right?
Now again, why would BMTC (or Minister Ashok) be apprehensive about opening up local transportation sector in Karnataka? Two possible things, right?
- Worry about BMTC employees losing jobs
- Possible mistaken notion that citizens at large may not like the change, basically, a belief that there are more Naveens and Vinay Baindurs than Murali or idontspam or Pranav or whoever.
With things laid down like above, wonder if we can lay down some clear and tangible proposals, like, say:
- Opening up local shuttle services?
- BMTC withdrawing from some routes to focus on trunk routes - TTMC to TTMC comnectivity?
- BMTC dividing city into zones, and auctioning routes for each zones with terns and regulations that include pricing guidelines as well?
- BMTC keeping destination oriented routes, and auctioning off direction based routes (Big10, upcoming circle routes) to private players.? Or Vice-versa.
And along with either of above, a constant would be for either KSRTC or DULT or BMTC itself (since it is the local transportation guru) to play the statewide regulator for urban local transportation.
Once we write some clear and little more doable proposals (compared to drastic ones that can't drive conversations like - sell BMTC off, or dismantle BMTC), I think we can try approach Ministers and Transport Secretary or whoever to lobby for them.
COMMENTS
Bus Privatization - A Way Forward
Naveen - 11 September, 2009 - 11:03
The ground realities
I think there isn't much doubt left in assuming that private city buses of the kind seen in India are rash & unmindful of other street users, be these cars, 2-wheelers, pedestrians or bicyclists. It is of academic interest to conclude that such type of privatization is undesirable since it is unsafe & has brought in only small-time operators, wrestling with one another for scarce space in their pursuit for more passengers.
I don't think BMTC employees losing jobs is a matter of concern since they will continue to have employment with private parties that can operate BMTC bus services, assuming that BMTC leases out it's buses (with staff) on several different zones.
Further, citizens will gradually accept any service that fulfills their necessities for travel, irrespective of who provides them - as long as services continue to remain dependable.
This reminds me of a Chinese proverb: "To open a shop is easy, to keep it open is an art"
With only bus as the mode for public transport, I don't think operating independent local loop shuttle services would have been profitable - the volumes are bound to be poor, other than during peak hours. BMTC states that they had already tried this & found it unviable.
The city is also coming up with new mode/s of fast, exclusive-track mass transits, which will require shuttle services to feed it, but these shuttles would cater to area/s around stations rather than providing services to feed buses that do not enjoy exclusivity of any kind. Hence, shuttle services to feed mass rail transits may be more fortunate & their viability might be better.
Given these realities, what would be the way ahead, if privatization is to be opted for ?
Assuming this can be done with BMTC as the sole regulator, & it's buses are leased out to firms ---
The European examples where PT services concentrated on quality of service rather than battles between competing vehicles has clearly not worked in India - due mainly to low economic conditions, some BMTC volvo services being the only exception to this.
Allowing multiple bus owners to operate along the same route/s has been a recipe for disaster - thus, the logical first steps in any move toward privatization is to first find way/s to address these, apart from addressing issues that ensure reliability of services & cut revenue leakages :
1) Competition must be encouraged for the market, rather than within the market.
2) To ensure reliability, operator compensation & payment must be based largely on vehicle-kilometers driven, maintaining pre-determined schedules & with a component based on number of passengers carried.
3) A fare collection system that is wholly transparent & ensures revenues are effectively retained by government through the regulating authority. Thus, electronic ticketing will have to be resorted to for all bus or combined ticketing.
4) A system of incentives & rewards to commuters that encourages purchase of tickets, rather than opt to go without ticket & pay less (to the conductor). This can be by way of daily lucky dips; or coupons for free travel when a certain number of tickets (say, 25) have been accumulated.
5) Aggressive monitoring by BMTC, as regulator for ticketless travel, with severe penalties.
This means that bus firms will have to aggressively compete to be allowed to operate in one or more of several pre-determined zone/s on specified routes, offering various types of bus standards (equivalent to very basic services such as low-cost mini-buses, ordinary buses, parisara vahinis, pushpaks & volvos). However, once the firms have been selected, there will be no more wrestling on the streets to get passengers away from other firms, since only one firm will be operating in each zone.
What will this offer ?
Bus firms will have incentives to provide reliable services. They will be free of negative attributes such as reckless driving, speeding, low profit margins or cutting off other road vehicles in their pursuit for gaining advantage on the street/s.
Tolerence of illegal private operators that will fill remaining gaps & operate because of unfulfilled demands will also remain in check since bus firms have an incentive to protect their turf. The bus firms will be forced to make recommendations to BMTC to come up with solutions to meet such demands. They will also help police their respective areas to be free of illegal operators.
The challenges
1) First, the creation of political will & acceptance of a new, radical idea that addresses lacunae in BMTC's operations, with clear focus on commuters, ignoring it's present profitability.
Difficult, because :
a) They have been recognized the world over as a responsible operator, being conferred several awards each year.
b) Opposition by their staff since they have got accustomed of ways to siphon off some funds illegally, within the prevailing system.
2) Turf wars & possible lack of co-ordination may effect inter-zone travellers, initially.
3) Possible manipulation of vehicle kilometers driven: meters that cannot be tampered need to be installed (GPS monitoring of schedules & kilometers driven will help greatly).
4) Sharing depot infrastructure & resources, maintenance issues - these may be hard to overcome, but once established, it might work smoothly.
Bus stops to be given to private for full maintainence & care
dvsquare - 11 September, 2009 - 06:36
I mean to say that, BMTC can talk to various private companies which can own up the popular bus stops and take care of those bus stops for lets say 1 year or 2 year contract.
In this way, BMTC will not have to spend any money on the bus-stops etc, and at the same time companies will get to advertize themselves through bus-stops.
For example, a few bus stops on the outer-ring road, talk can be done with Intel, Hyundai, Maruti or other companies there.
So far as I know, Bus Shelters are built by BBMP, not BMTC.
BBMP gave the job to private companies who are constructing them as per their own design with an eye on only advertisements.
Many new shelters are duplicated, occupying the scace pavement space, without giving the commuters requiored protection from sun and rain.
The name of the bus stops is written in tiny letters which cannot be read, especially at night as lighting is provided only for the ads, but not the name of the stop.
In case BBMP give the building and maintenance of these stops to private companies the design should be decided by BBMP making it mandatory to display bus stop name on all three sides with minimum 50% space earmarked . Also the route information should be displayed promimnently.
K.V.Pathy
kbsyed61 - 11 September, 2009 - 09:51
SB,
One win-win proposal would be on similar lines on what you have expressed. BMTC to consolidate on their operations and area of reach. That is, they can mark boundaries where they would continue serving. The areas beyond these boundaries can be opened up to Private, Public participation with:
- Operating under a regulatory body
- Operating under a clear and unambigous policy guidelines
Let me explain this with some examples.
BMTC operations to restrict to some limits like Hebbal, Peenya, Koramangala, KR Puram, Whitefield etc. Any service beyond these limits should be up for grab from Private, public service providers. All new routes, new services to new areas should go to these SPs.
Yes it is a big change, people might not like it. But people's travel habits are built around the available choices. This might sound a simple plan on paper but it calls for many things in place for it to succeed.
- It needs a separate Road Based Transport authority responsible for planning and providing the connectivity in Blore and its adjacent areas.
- It definitely needs a strong, pro active and working regulatory authority.
- BMTC then becomes just a service provider but with sole provider status in inner city limits.
Let me restrict my thoughts here. Will add more later.
Syed
silkboard - 11 September, 2009 - 04:47
Once again - will be great to avoid debating (yet again) whether open-market is good or bad. This thread is for those who think BMTC can help Bangalore by opening up the market a bit, and there are clear ways (and business case, demand) to get started.
Some past posts for reference, though these could be termed too high level or intangible:
- Better bussing for green bangalore (http://www.praja.in/blog/murali772/2007/12/12/better-bussing-green-bangalore)
- Addressable market size (http://praja.in/en/blog/silkboard/2008/09/12/urban-transportation-addressable-market-size-how-big)
- Reforms around a statewide regulator (http://praja.in/blog/silkboard/2008/07/02/transportation-reforms-around-bmlta-concept)
- Road based PT system (http://praja.in/~bangalore/blog/kbsyed61/2009/01/25/road-based-public-transport-system-de-congestion)
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