COMMENTS

Bus services with unpredicatble timings (which sometimes means waiting more than an hour for the goddamn bus), buses which do not stop at designated spots, roads filled with construction debris (esp. for flyover/underpass construction) which make reaching to/from bus stops including crossing roads very painful/dangerous, rash drivers of public and private vehicles who make roads unsafe for pedestrians are only some problems which I can remember off-hand. Even the lure of the air-con comfort of the volvo buses (at the cost of a big hole in the pocket) does not help when you don't know when (whether) you will get a bus and if you do, whether you will find a seat (why else do we pay the volvo fares?).

I tried passionately with an open mindeset to travel only in BMTC buses for a couple of months and my experience (major part of it being on the ORR between silkborad and Hebbal) was not very promising. After losing several hours of time, getting drained physically and emotionally, and no perceptibel economic benefits (last mile more than makes up for the gains made by travelling in "cheap" buses). Forcefully, I had to start using my private transport again.

• thumb_up 58 Likes
• · login or register to post comments

 Forcefully, I had to start using my private transport again.

I guess the resounding refrain time & again is timetable, timetable, timetable. It is the hallmark of any reliable transport service, woefully absent in BMTC. 

• thumb_up 46 Likes
• · login or register to post comments

@Manjari, Srivatsava,

We should meet BMTC for further discussion soon.

K.V.Pathy

• thumb_up 41 Likes
• · login or register to post comments

I tried passionately with an open mindeset to travel only in BMTC buses for a couple of months and my experience (major part of it being on the ORR between silkborad and Hebbal) was not very promising. After losing several hours of time, getting drained physically and emotionally, and no perceptibel economic benefits (last mile more than makes up for the gains made by travelling in "cheap" buses). Forcefully, I had to start using my private transport again

but the catch is frequency is low and the same issue discussed here many times.. we dont know what are the timings..BMTC website and call center have no clue on the timings..when i called up they asked me to call up the depot..

I myself used to take the Big-10 until a few months back. But, when I wanted to go beyond Mayo Hall, I had to engage an auto, since, strangely, after the 'Kendra Saarige' (or whatever that was called) flopped (due to poor planning as also sabotage), no replacement has been thought of yet.

Once I was waiting near 'the HOSMAT' (near the football stadium), around 7 PM, to catch a G-3 to Koramangala. After about a 10 minute wait, a bus showed up. But, with the traffic light at the junction ahead turning green, the driver just drove past leaving me and a few others stranded. Some adventurous few cut across the traffic and jumped on when the bus slowed down in the traffic. But, that of course is not for me. A whole lot of buses other than G-3 went past. But, not knowing where they were headed, given the highly 'encrypted' destination boards of the regular BMTC buses (Blackberry would be proud of the job, I should think), I was vary about boarding them. In the event, I landed up trudging all the way upto the Games village, on poorly paved and ill-lit side-walks (that is, wherever it exists), before a friend driving past noticed me and gave me a lift. After that incident, I have more or less given up on the Big-10 too.

The 'neo-pseudo-Socialists' will perhaps say that I suffer from a mind-set against travelling in public transport buses, and that's the root cause of the problem. But, then what about Prabha and Ramesh, and so many more, who have been repeatedly posting similar experiences on PRAJA?

@ Pathy Sir - Even with all of the above and more, you still believe any good will come out of talking to BMTC officials? I know you still manage all your travel using BMTC services. But, Sir, you are a rare exception. And, I am sure you also agree that the city could do with better bus services. In fact, the city owes it to people like you.

And, not just better, it has to improve multi-fold. And, very plainly, that just can't happen with a monopoly government service provider. Besides, bus services are too vital an infrastructure a sector for it (and the city) to be denied the gains from the services of professional service providers. Their entry needs to be systematically facilitated. We need to be demanding that.

Even if they may charge higher (which need not necessarily be, if the government's facilitation is properly targeted, and also because of resulting operational efficiencies), the ultimate monthly commuting bill of even a poor family can become much lower, with dependence on auto's reducing drastically. For more, check this
 

• thumb_up 45 Likes
• · login or register to post comments

@ss87

Now if the above routes only run the crowd will definitely be very high. Hence we have the small routes like 500D(silk board to Hebbal),500T(Marathalli to Hebbal),500C(Silk board to K.R.Puram), 500N (Banashankari to Tin factory) etc to minimize the crowd on buses.

So, are you suggesting that BMTC is deliberately doing it? Or, are you being sarcastic?

• thumb_up 51 Likes
• · login or register to post comments