HOT TOPICS

SPOTLIGHT AGENCIES

Abide Transportation Plans - Letter from RK Mishra

183

Written By Rithesh - 16 February, 2009

Bangalore Infrastructure BMTC Abide Citizen Reports R K Misra HOHO Big10 public transport

Posting on behalf of R K Mishra

Dear Friends,

As you are aware, ABIDe (Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure & Development) Task Force, with the Chief Minister as Chairman, Mr. Ananth Kumar (MP-Bangalore South) as Vice Chairman and Mr. Rajeev Chandrashekar (MP - Rajya Sabha) as Convener, has been constituted to revive and rebuild Bengaluru through a combination of Comprehensive planning, improved municipal services and new investments into infrastructure. ABIDe also owns the task of providing a blue-print for sustainable and orderly development of Bangalore under Bengaluru Vision 2020.

I and Ashwin Mahesh (IIM-B), are entrusted with the task of suggesting solutions to the Traffic and Transport issues of Bangalore - A tough job indeed :).

The Transportation team at ABIDe has identified public transport as the most important tool in reducing traffic congestion and chaos on Bangalore roads. Given that metro rail network is still some years away, Bus based public transport system is being promoted with a corridor approach.

To promote public transport and make travel hassle free, 10 major arterial roads (Big-10) have been identified as high density traffic corridors which will be made junction/signal free with dedicated point-to-point Bus Services, both A/C and non-A/C buses, named as Big-10 service.

Priority Bus Lanes, Bus Bays, Paved Footpaths, Safe Pedestrian Crossings, Cycle Lanes (proposed) will also be introduced on these Big-10 routes. We have 3, 6, 12, 18 and 24 month deadlines to accomplish all these Road Infrastructure Improvement objectives on all Big-10 Corridors. Please visit ABIDe website for corridor and other details. - http://www.abidebengaluru.in

However, deployment of Big-10 and Hop-on Hop-Off (HoHo) Bus Services has already begun. Out of 10 Corridors Big-10 Bus Service is already in operation on
Hosur Road (Vellara Jn - Electronic City) and
HAL Airport Road (Trinity Jn - Whitefield-Hope Farm jn).
This is proving to be extremely popular.

Next week Bannerghatta Road Big-10 Service will start. In next 2 months all 10 Corridors will have Big-10 Bus Service with a frequency of 5-10 minutes, both A/C and Non-A/C Service.

This service CONVENIENTLY connects with Central Business District (CBD) HoHo Service (Kendra Sarige) at Vellara Jn on Hosur Rd and Trinity Jn on HAL Airport rd respectively. This makes it extremely convenient for anyone living and commuting on these routes to use this Big-10 Service in conjunction with CBD HoHo service to reach any point in the city including all shopping malls and offices,without the need to take their private vehicles to work or shop.

I have myself used these services and they are extremely convenient and efficient.

Please encourage all your friends and colleagues to use these BUS services. Traffic congestion will reduce only if we stop/reduce taking our cars to work and shop. No amount of cribbing or road widening is going to help if we keep adding private cars to our roads. Now we have the comfortable and convenient public transport in close proximity to our homes and work places, lets use it and help our city and the environment.

RK

COMMENTS

How late are these buses

javajee - 16 February, 2009 - 14:05

How late are these buses available? There are few issues that come in the way for taking the buses:
    Is it safe to walk home/office once you get off from the bus when it is late evening?
      Are there decent enough walk ways from the bus stand to home/office. There is always an option of Auto for the last mile connectivity.

      Additionally, I am not sure how the response is for these services. BMTC should do some promotion similar to the one they did a while back. Say Rs 1. or something. If the buses are running full then this is not a question.

      There was a SMS service "yellidira" to locate the volvo buses. This can be useful addition.

      -javajee

Helping ABIDe !

kbsyed61 - 16 February, 2009 - 14:29

 RKM, ABIDe,

 Here are my suggestions on making KS & BIG-10 a grand success.

  1. Spruce up the whole HoHO * BIG-10 stretch/routes - Get the roads, footpath, bus stops cleaned up and keep it stench free.
  2. Increase police presence on this route.
  3. Allow transfer ticket facility - i.e. Promotional Free transfer from BIG-10 and other regular service to HoHO.
  4. Promotional Fare for a week as an advertisement.
  5. Re-look at all the current bus stops for HoHo & BIG-10 service - its location, its surroundings. I am very certain that you may need to add more bus stops (not necessarily shelters). Studies suggest bus stop at every 500 meters, at least in CBD area.
  6. Introduce priority for HoHo service on these CBD routes - Ban all private vehicles with single person occupancy.
  7. Tweaking the signals on HoHo & BIG-10 routes to create the necessary buffer time for smooth ride.
  8. Re-look at the current Ped-Xings on both HoHo & BIG-10 routes. Very positive that we may need more Ped-Xings.
  9. Short term dedicated Customer Service for HoHo & BIG-10, until the service becomes popular and choice for daily commute.
  10. Add another important circular service route - City Railway Station - KSRTC Bus Stand, KG Road, Corporation, K R Circle, Maharani's College, Anand Rao Circle and back to City Railway station.

 Syed

solution, in isolation?

nijavaada - 16 February, 2009 - 15:49

I feel the Big10 and the rest of the new buses are good idea improvements indeed.. but there are more serious roles for the transportation management vertical to play, while teaming along with the other 3 verticals.. and I think that is more important for us to discuss here, on this forum. Big10 buses will certainly get used by the public if it really appeals to their needs. But there are subtle items in this vertical's charter that are going to implicitly affect the public..

I know that there have been some conscious efforts to establish links among the four verticals of ABIDe functioning. Can we talk about this interlinking here please? We may want to churn out meaningful ideas of relating, say, secure-bengaluru to the transport management solution? What kind of changes will the transport system need to undergo for it to ensure secure-bengaluru by design?

-Nijavaada

progress for the better

Ravi_D - 17 February, 2009 - 04:06

...there seems to be some progress for the better. Going by recent discussions, praja members are interested to make this initiative work. Seems like Prof. Ashwin Mahesh is all ears to constructive feedback. Can we give it a fair chance? Since our news media seems not all that interested (what's new?) we should rather help spread the word around. Can we take it as a simple request to "pitch it to yourself and your friends"?

Ravi

Frequency and timings key to increased rider levels

rakeshkroy - 17 February, 2009 - 14:05

Hi, I would strongly recommend that Big10 service should have good frequency. Atleast one bus every 15-20 minutes during peak hours and atleast one bus every 30-45 minutes during off peak hours. Also, the drivers should have something like a punching system at various points to ensure that they stick to the designated routes and also keep up the timings. In Bangalore, they either leave too early or too late. They are not punctual and rarely follow the designated routes at all times. I have experienced situations when i was awaiting for a bus in a particular direction from e-city, but the bus took a different route and left e city. These initiatives will bore fruits only if they are executed flawlessly and there is enforcement to avoid incovenience to public.

PRAJA.IN COMMENT GUIDELINES

Posting Guidelines apply for comments as well. No foul language, hate mongering or personal attacks. If criticizing third person or an authority, you must be fact based, as constructive as possible, and use gentle words. Avoid going off-topic no matter how nice your comment is. Moderators reserve the right to either edit or simply delete comments that don't meet these guidelines. If you are nice enough to realize you violated the guidelines, please save Moderators some time by editing and fixing yourself. Thanks!