COMMENTS

The govt must take all classes to account. Its not fair to raise the bus fair every often. Everyone cant offered it.

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Extracted from the mail sent on HU y-group
We have decided to have a follow -up meeting to finalise the demands and the campaign plan. The follow up meeting will be on -

Monday, June 24, 4.30pm
Venue : Alternative Law Forum, Infantry Road

Please do make it to the meeting !

The main points from the meeting are -

• We had representatives of around 12 organisations who attended the meeting
• Some basic data about BMTC finances, the rate hike, and government expenditure on BMTC etc was shared (the copy of the presentation that was used is attached (here), it is fairly self explanatory if not fully )
• It was unanimously decided that we need to have a campaign to demand the full rollback of the hike and that this hike has hit people really hard
• What was also discussed was that there is no platform for bus-users in the city and hence no voice of the bus-users reaches the state (although all of us are bus-users). There was discussion whether we should use this opportunity to create such a platform
• Some of the other problems of BMTC were also discussed and whether these shoul;d be included in any demands we make. A few of the problems discussed are are - Lack of transparency in BMTC -in how tickets are priced, what is the loss due to, how much have Volvos contributed to the loss etc; On many routes  Volvos are increasing whether while regular buses are being cut down

Some of the ideas suggested for the campaign to rollback the hikes are -
1)A protest in front of the KSRTC office/Shantinagar bus stand on double road
2)Collecting one rupee donations for BMTC at various bus-stands - this is to shame BMTC
3)Having teams at major bus-stands to  have people sign post-cards which will be sent to the CM asking for roll-back
4)Having a widely announced black day on one day of next week, where we ask people to wear either black shirt/saree/salwar/black band around the forehead etc while travelling in bus, to register their protest

Having a press conference where the above plans will be shared to get more publicity for the protests.

Thanks, Vinay

Of course, no talk of dismantling the monopoly.

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I hope to join.

K.V.Pathy

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A fare fixation committee that has full access to BMTC's financials is the need of the hour, no doubt, especially for low cost services & more broadly, for all services, including air-conditioned services. This can only be possible if citizen groups demand & force recognition for such a committee since authorities will never give in.

However, I don't agree with the premise that tickets must be subsidized to the extent that BMTC incurs losses, or for that matter any public service incurs losses. Such policies have ruined every other public service, be it power, water or healthcare & PDS. Unless mechanisms are found to eliminate leakages (such as the recent gas policy change or aadhar card), fares will continue to rise in tune with fuel & other costs.

I think the central & state govts' policies are also not consistent & in fact seem lop-sided. Whilst they encourage excessive subsidies for PDS, they continue to penalise RTCs with steep diesel price hikes since they are labelled bulk consumers. If central govt does away with differential pricing of diesel, or provides fuel subsidies for RTCs that are providing urban transport, it will keep a lid on city bus fare hikes. Mumbai's BEST has also been hiking fares for this reason.

Another example is IR, which is bending over backwards to maintain ordinary 2nd class fares without increases - this has been damaging it's financials for decades, but it continues in the same old way since politicians are hell bent on milking every drop from it for votes, economics be damned.

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Seeing the above call on the Hasiru Usiru Yahoo-group, I immediately responded with:

Whatever, the government monopoly has to remain, right?

To this, KN responded with:
At least I don't think govt. monopoly has to remain - they are just irresponsible and haven't thought it fit to redesign the routes for over 30 years and there are several other short-comings- especially BMTC (formerly BTS).

However, there aren't many good examples of private bus operators either (the TVS example that you quote may be an exception). Those along the KA coastal belt are some of the worst examples - they are just after getting the max trips with max passengers packed in.

In either case, what's needed is a responsible service provider - govt or private. Not sure how that could be achieved or how the service provider could be made accountable and responsive to the customers' needs.

I went back with:
No TVS, nor any respectable business house, will come forward to operate the bus services given today's license-permit-control regime, in the name of the out-dated Contract Carriage Act, Stage Carriage Act, etc. It is only the small-time johnnies, who, together form their own mafia, opt to 'manage' the current situation, leading to the kind of services you have in Mangalore-Udupi areas, as also in Kochi, Kolkata, Delhi, almost everywhere. All the same, they still provide an essential service, which in many places is still better than that provided by govt operators.

Unfortunately, no state appears to have appreciated the need for the organised sector to be facilitated into entering as vital an infrastructure sector as public bus transport services sector yet, leading to the cities being burdened with the much costlier and disruptive options of METRO, BRT, etc. The bus mafia's are not very different from the auto mafia's, and serve the vested interests of the politicos perfectly, apart from the SRTC mafia's over whom the politicos preside (the earlier transport minister fitted the scene to perfection), and that is why the change hasn't happened so far.

Now, of course the private operators cannot run on losses, and if the 'socialistic' mandate is that bus operations should be subsidised, perhaps they have to be run by the state players (well, even if monopolies). But, a government order clearly states that "fixation of fares for special and high end buses (like Volvos) is left to the STUs based on 'market forces' ". So, why should the VOLVO operations remain the monopoly of BMTC? Is it to cross-subsidise the 'Janata' operations? But, the inefficient way they are operating, with empty buses chasing each other many a times, it doesn't look like they are making money there either, even with steep fare increases, and manipulation of the definition of 'stage' (check here). In addition is the deprivation of the aam aadmi of the services of at least 4 ordinary buses for every VOLVO.

So, do you now see a case for inviting the TVS types to take over the VOLVO services, at least? Once that happens, the comparisons will be inevitable, and the BMTC will also have to improve its performance. Otherwise, they will go down like AIR-INDIA ( If Modi becomes the PM, he will close it down; and, for that one reason at least, I hope he does :))) ). But, of course, TVS will want the two earlier mentioned Acts repealed, and a proper regulatory mechanism put in place.

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