thumb_up 0

COMMENTS

i will try to comeup with some generic metrics later on. but one of the things we need to sort out explicity is the expectation from public transport. what do we expect from it? reduced congestion? reduced pollution? more structure? and so on. also i have been thinking about this for a while and want to get out of my system: how about bmtc simulating metro routes? that is bmtc runs services along the corridors proposed by metro with stops corresponding to metro stops. the expectation being it acts as a test of demand for public transit and a test for general flow patterns along the corridors. but there are a few caveats. bcoz buses are not right of way, they may not achieve reliability and speed of a metro. so many people may not take these corridors. on the other hand if these are indeed natural corridors, beyond statistical and even observabale perception, then the additional services will be patronized. also bmtc might not be able to replicate perceived and actual comfort level expectations of a metro. the reason i stumbled upon this is, when i read the transport survey on bmrc website, they were talking of running metro o roads where traffic > 20k pphdt or some value like that. the idea being you end up connecting 'valleys' but the problem with such purely statistical approaches is that you cannot guarantee that you have connected important sources and sinks. naveen has been shouting his lungs off that se bangalore has no coverage. (that is one of the reasons i say, we need a dedicated team a majority of whom are deeply connected with bangalore to plan these things. hired consultants wont just cut it.) infact if you ask me, while they sort all these court battles, bmrc should get some one in their ranks to work with bmtc and get the type of stats that you were mentioning, month long survey etc, and then check any other existing stats that bmtc has. naveen has also been talking of another important aspect, that of demand for varied level of service. this again brings us back to the expectation of public transport. if the metro aims to attract >2w and poach some of bmtc's traffic is it necessarily unworthy a goal? could bmtc use a breather?

• thumb_up Like
• · login or register to post comments

in an unfortunately silent thread, naveen makes a sobering observation about congestion and the limitations of pub trans ...

It is clear from the CTTP report (Table 6.3) that even if all recommended mass transit routes, etc. are developed, it would still result in the share of daily trips by cars & two-wheelers to increase from 2006 levels of 4.2 & 18.4 lakhs to 7.0 & 20.6 lakhs by 2025 due to increase in the city’s population & the corresponding increase in the no. of daily trips, although in percentage terms, they would drop to 5.5 & 16.2% from 7.5 & 32.8% respectively. A part of this increase will have to be absorbed with only the present road inventory within CBDs /ORR merely by augmentation of existing roads as creation of additional roads will not be possible within CBDs /ORR (the elevated CRR appears to have been abandoned). This implies that traffic congestion will worsen unless traffic restraints are enforced to bring down the no. of road vehicles.

http://bangalore.praja.in/part-ii-traffic-restraining-measures

it also highlights the fact that everyday day the city pussy foots on this, the problems will only grow.

when i asked kunstler about the cost of pub trans, he said something to the effect that it has never been cheap to build pub trans irrespective of when it was built and how rich the city was. people always have had to bite the financial bullet.

i think i agree. the cost is more than material. the cost is energy spent in moving the city, its people and politicians, from the inertia due set mode of thinking and entrenched interests. delhi took more than 30 years to get started. if they had got it done back then, metro would have been all payed for by now and a structure would have evolved by now. now pub trans in delhi is faced with the daunting task of taming an over grown hydra.

the question is when does bangalore start and how far does it go? 6.5 million we are. prolly the largest city with no dedicated planners and a dedicated pub trans system.

btw sri, do you game at work? any softwares for trying out games? we got to try a simple game on this and see how it pans out.

• thumb_up Like
• · login or register to post comments

Broadly speaking, most would agree about the two urgent areas of improvement on pure people transportation front:

1. Long haul services - predictability and perception
2. Last mile connectivity to minimize "transit" gaps

Folks have discussed #1 - BRTS, semi dedicated bus lanes on important radial and ring roads, hub/grid vs matrix routing.

But we realize that big improvements in #1 will take time and investment. Meanwhile, working on #2 could make more folks switch over in the short term itself

How about BMTC branded auto (or similar small vehicle - Tata winger types) service that runs on solo or shared mode. Talking to a few who have switched to Volvos, and those who haven't, a switch is possible only when Volvo drops you almost to the office (point to point convenience). Or, if there is space to park private vehicle at the point where I get on to the Volvo in the morning.

How about making a small beginning by having BMTC branded local service that carries people to the destination on a single ticket or pass. No haggling with autos - Single point to point ticket. Fixed authority (BMTC) to go to if I have issues with service quality.

BMTC needs to run a branded service, not actually run it themselves. It could be private operators being regulated by BMTC. Existing LNG autos could consider converting to this, or could opt to compete instead like they do today.

This wont require any massive investment or policy changes, its a small beginning that would augment Volvos well while people thrash out the problem of predictability of long haul services. This is similar to cvikash's model (he specified earlier), but I am thinking small steps - one at a time - here.

With above in place, I can take a Volvo from whitefield, get down near Richmond Circle, hop on to a BMTC branded auto/Maruti van whatever which would be circling around Langford town, and get to my office. No GPS, no SMS based services. Those could follow in due time once we assess what consumers want.

Now, please don't call me elitist etc as I only talked Volvos here. For maximum difference in the short term, we want car folks to switch over first.

• thumb_up Like
• · login or register to post comments

Some long-term solutions towards improving BMTC,

1. Integrate smart-card based fare infrastructure into BMTC's Systems and ensure that the same can be used across BMTC, Metro, Monorail etc., seamlessly. 
This saves trouble for a lot of passengers and most likely will pull-in the not so affluent sections of the society into using it, because of its convenience and slickness.

We could start by experimenting it with the Volvo bus. Passengers get in and out by flashing the card.

2. Recognize responsibility it owes to the city traffic.
BMTC is partially responsible for traffic jams in the city. It has a direct responsibility to events arising out of actions by its bus drivers, including, but not limited to - Haphazard parking of buses for alighting and boarding, racing against other buses on the same route for maximising revenues etc.
Agreed that the BBMP has the onus of erecting and maintaining bus shelters, but BMTC is making profits out of it and hence should voluntarily help BBMP create infrastructure.
"BMTC with its financial muscle can helps carve bus bays out of commercial land, which go and long way in reducing slow-down and near stoppage of traffic following a BMTC bus".

3. Provide information to people when and where they need it.
For ex:
a.  Electronic display boards specifying current location of a particular bus and the ETA at bus shelters can allow people to relax instead of remaining constantly vigilant about an arriving bus.
b.  Electronic display boards inside the bus announcing the next destination, will allow passengers to navigate by themselves and be self-reliant

• thumb_up Like
• · login or register to post comments

Hi all,

 

While a lot has been done to increase passenger comfort in buses, I think a few basic aspects need urgent attention of BMTC. Two well accepted parameters may be used to judge the transport system - (a) efficiency and (b) effectiveness. While (a) is OK type, (b) still has a long way to go. (Please excuse me if any of my points are a repetition of what has already been discussed)-

 

1. Routes to be rationalized and re-planned: Making better use of the buses currently dedicated for short routes (<10 or 12 kms). Ex: 61 series,12,18,131,31E and several more. These routes are for the Bangalore of 1960s…!!! I am sure a sizeable fleet is dedicated for these routes. Why not run the 61 series from Vijaynagar till ITPL or Marathalli(ie, Vasanth’s idea) instead of just KBS? This bus can just touch Anand rao circle and follow the path of 333 or 335 without going inside KBS. As pointed out by majority members repeatedly, the major hubs of KBS, market and Shivajinagar are now too close to act as efficient transit points for different directions of the city. The newer hubs should be points like EC, ITPL, Marathalli, BTM,Yelahanka, Peenya, etc… instead of Koramangala, Domlur/Indranagar, yeshwantpur, Jayanagar,etc…  Each of them to be inter-connected with direct buses. Buses running between the new hubs will also service the important old areas enroute. I will elaborate this point sometime later.
2. Ref to Vasanth’s point on suvarna buses not being low floor buses, I wonder why BMTC is not procuring semi low floor buses (of Leyland). These buses have rear air suspension and hundreds of them are successfully running in Mumbai and Chennai. Low floor buses are essentially rear engine buses and rear engines are difficult to service/maintain; but semi low floor provides the benefit of ‘lower’ floor and an easily serviceable front engine. Price difference is also less compared to the currently used model. I am sure BMTC must be aware of the product, still no idea why they haven’t tried it (inspite of having the credit of making bold moves like introducing Volvos for intra city routes!)
3. Suvarna will run only for 8 hours in a day as per BMTC. What will these buses do for the other 10 traffic hours? Is this not capacity under-utilisation? Can suvarna (plus few Pushpaks) not be dedicated for school/college students from 6.30 to 8am and 2pm to 4pm  ? (Considering Mr.Tripathys statement that no standing passengers in these buses). I would also suggest that these buses can have lady conductors or call them “pass inspectors”, since they can handle the students a little more gently than their rough male counterparts
4. Buses with driver-cum-conductor arrangement to be totally snapped: Everybody knows that these buses are a real nuisance to onboard passengers, other road users, other BMTC buses and the driver-cum-conductor himself. Inspite of countless letters in the papers about this, BMTC seems to be least bothered.
5. Number/Route boards of BMTC (specially red boards) look like ancient “shaasanas”. Its better to have route info in both Kannada and English in nice “gundu aksharas” :) so that it benefits everyone.
6. Position of doors: I think the middle wide door concept is not a sound one. This door can be moved towards the rear (Presently its front door+2 windows+wide door+3 windows) People always tend to stay close to this wide door which is a nuisance. I suggest they can stick to the old model (front door+4 windows+wide door+1 window)which will result in better space utilsation within the bus. Further, left side of the wide door can be used for alighting and the right side for boarding.
7. FM radio be made compulsory in all new buses: I don’t know why all transport corps of Karnataka are complacent when it comes to entertainment in buses. For BMTC, FM radio running at a soothing volume (like in Vajra) will help commuters overcome monotony during travel. Moreover, it is not a costly investment also. In many tamil nadu state buses, the TVs (Many times, two in number) are always up and running. I have observed in many inter city ordinary services of TN govt buses - seats are not that good, luggage rack span and leg room is small. Nothing has been done about this in new buses also. While the look of KSRTC ordinary services has changed leaps and bounds from the old “red bus” to Suvarna Karnataka Sarige with semi bucket seats, better leg space and all that, they are not caring about the entertainment for atleast long routes.
8. Dear Vasanth, CTOs mail looks like only an acknowledgement for all the pains you have undertaken in elaborating your suggestion. Will they disclose it to you if any of your suggestions are seriously considered? If so, will they involve the person/group who suggested it and do more R&D? Only if it comes to that stage, I think we can hope for some improvement. This question arose since Murali Sir has constantly been narrating his bad experiences in such affairs with BMTC. Otherwise, your suggestion is absolutely logical.
9. Treatment to regular pass holders, especially students is very bad. How to tame the crew and make them realize that it’s a public bus and not their personal vehicle?
10. Regular services should extend upto atleast 10.30 pm after which night service can run till about 1 am. Presently, buses vanish after 9pm and it is a disgrace to see the plight of commuters(even in KBS)

 

Finally, a bit of concern for me is this- Praja members are discussing almost endlessly about so many problems and workable solutions. Are there any success stories so far that the solutions discussed in Praja were accepted by the respective govt dept and implemented.? (It will be a morale booster for a lot of new-comers like me). If so, what is the method of effective representation on behalf of the public? What best can we do solve this public transport problem?

 

Cheers

Suraj

• thumb_up Like
• · login or register to post comments