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Red board and Black board - do we still require this classification?
Written By ss87 - 5 February, 2011
Today's Bangalore is quite different from what it was 10 years back. The diameter of the city at that time was lesser than what the radius of the city is at present.
BMTC started operating Red board routes as to providing service to areas above 10-12 kms from the city centre that time. These buses had higher fares compared to the black board to dissuade the short ditance commuters from boarding. Some had limited stops(Eg: "H" series as in 2H,36H etc).
Today there is no distinction between Old bangalore and new bangalore. City had just grown in size. BMTC has reduced the cateogories of buses to AC and Non-AC with respect to fares. but with respecto to services??
The distinction of Black board and red board is one major criteria followed today even in deciding new routes-actually same becoming a constrain in operations. EG: There isnt any ordinary between Banashankari and C.V.Raman Nagar-reason-Inner ring road routes being 201 they want a 201 to run-but C.V.Raman Nagar has 314 series operating and same is Red-board. So no connection-the only connector is Volvo or Marcopolo AC.
This issue is not only in that route. Same issue took place in S-1 and S-2 operations because BMTC considered them black boards and operated only AC services.
Today the new buses have got LED boards-a common man will not be able to identify whether a bus is Red board or black board-the light emitted is going to be the same. Also a person who wants to travel in red board have to pay more despite the fares being same-reason-thats BMTC rule!!
The worst affected in this case are area like Guruppanpalya, St. Johns, Sarakki gate, Geddalhalli/Mekhri circle,Gorguntepalya etc. The black board buses operating in these areas (161,168,98G) etc are so few that people have to travel by red board only.
Again as case where commuters have to fight for justice
COMMENTS
I think some people have raised this with BMTC recently. Redoing classification of routes, with focus on Last mile connectivity and creation of express routes as suggested in previous comment seems to be the right thing to do.
ss87 - 31 January, 2014 - 14:13
As far as i have seen the following routes should be re-classified to avoid confusions- its one of the most confusing routes
210, 210B and 210C as 11, 11B, 11C as they run via Banashankari
210A,210R,210U and 210X as 15B, 15D, 15J, 15L as they run via K.R.Road
210D, 210E can be re-numbered as 15R, 15M as they take route fo 15 before coming back to south-end
210F,210G,210GA,210Q as 13L, 13N, 13P, 13R as they come from Shivajinagar
210H as 15K as it takes almost same route to shivajinagar
210J,210KA, 210KB, 210N, 210W as 31A, 31C, 31E, 31F, 31G as they go via Thyagarajanagar to Padmanabhanagar and beyond
210Z, 210ZA as 15N, 15S as they also take K.R.Road and return to Banashanakri and go to Kadirenhalli Cross
Atleast confusion in minds of people as to which bus goes where will reduce
Naveen - 6 February, 2011 - 03:54
ss87 - the route numbering (such as black /red /AC, etc) all needs revamping, no doubt.
From what I was given to understand, a major exercise will be undertaken once Metro ph-1 becomes operational in 2012 or 2013. Till then, this old /outdated numbering might continue, I guess.
shashi kumar y - 8 February, 2011 - 04:56
Sir, with the 500 or city bus pass you can travel in the ALL buses except volvo till city limits(city pass holds good)
Black Board and Red Board should be unified
Vijay Srinivas - 8 August, 2012 - 06:52
Now that the city has enlarged, the Black Board and Red Board buses should be unified into one. Instead, we need now SLOW buses and EXPRESS buses (which stop at limited stops only). Also, more stops should be created for SLOW buses.
This would improve the LAST MILE CONNECTIVITY, and also speed up some bus services.
Besides, the fare should be POINT-TO-POINT, and not BUS-TO-BUS as it is now. So, a person buys a ticket, and he/she can change unlimited bus enroute to reach the destination (of course, within a specified time). This principle is followed in many other countries.
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