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BMTC - good things announced

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Written By silkboard - 28 October, 2008

Bangalore BMTC Bus TTMC Media Reports public transport

While we continue to expect more from BMTC here on Praja, good things are being announced by the government. CM kicked off work for a TTMC at Kengeri, and while doing that, he announced (quoting TOI) a bus station in every locality and a depot every 5 km, in the next few years. Thats sweet, but sheltered bus stands with clear display of bus information would be sweeter.

Good news there as well though, as BMTC has picked Keltron for supplying GPS enabled Passenger Information Systems, 80 of these will come up on Airport volvo routes on pilot basis. The promise is to show real time bus information at bus stands. Refer this news article..

At the same event, Mr Pasha, MD, BMTC made another good sounding promise (quote, TOI again) "We plan to convert our fleet to CNG-fuelled buses in 2-3 years". Thats a big promise to keep Mr Pasha. Let us remind you that all the city autos are yet to convert to CNG.

BTW, in case you didn't know, BMTC buses (I am guessing most, if not all) run on bio-diesel, they use a mix of jatropha to meet emission standards. Thats probably the reason we don't see BMTC buses emit as much soot and smoke as lorries and autos do.

Another interesting announcement from BMTC recently has been regarding low floor buses. Looks like it is all set to go for Tata Marco Polo buses. As per the recent news articles, these cost 52-55 lakh each, though I distinctly remember reading a number like 32-35 lakhs few months ago (perhaps non A/c). Volvo's come for Rs 72 lakh apiece. Friends say the Marco Polos in use at Delhi are pretty good, so lets see how these compare with Volvo. It is not clear though if BMTC is going to give up on Volvo altogether or if its going to run a mixed fleet of both low floor brands.

Now, after the good announcements, a round up of things we would like to hear but we haven't. Nothing in the news recently that suggests that BMTC is working on getting its routing system right. No announcements regarding plans to integrate with Metro (hey. its only two years away, thats not a lot of time). No announcements regarding the 150 odd bus shelters/bays that BBMP is supposedly doing for BMTC, though I do notice that a few new bus stands have shown up on Airport Volvo routes.

The pace of announcements seems to be good, so we should expect more. And yeah, we would be watching after things you announce. For matters of governance and administration in our city, we know that well begun is certainly not half done :)

COMMENTS

good to see GPS enabled buses

j_venu - 28 October, 2008 - 15:51

This is a very good move of providing Bus Arrival Information using GPS. I wish this becomes a good success.

Eye-opener

murali772 - 29 October, 2008 - 07:57

Reading the post, I almost set out do a 'dollu kunita'. TTMC's, bus station in every locality, a depot every 5km - what more can the commuter ask for? Doesn't matter if he can't figure out which of the 1800 odd routes will take him to his destination, with or without help from the non-functioning call-centre, or the non-readable destination boards on the buses. In fact, just dump the trip, and shop till you drop at the TTMCs, availing all the grand discounts schemes on offer from BIG BAZAAR. Way to go BMTC, Yedi, Ashoka!!! Muralidhar Rao

Depot every 5KM?

idontspam - 29 October, 2008 - 10:14

I can understand a stop every locality. Depot every 5kms??? Why would you need that? Hope they are not the TTMC type shopping complexes. I bet more point to point buses will be introduced going thru majestic or shivajinagar or kalasipalyam ignoring the metro routes. Can we get somebody from Singapore RTA to drill some sense into them before this gets out of control?

GPS as a saviour

Rithesh - 30 October, 2008 - 02:36

A couple of days back i talked to a BMTC driver about GPS being fitted on buses. He told me that 3-4 buses from his depot were fitted with GPS devices. Because of this GPS device, it seams that the drivers couldnt stop at the last stops for more than the 5 mins (or may be the stipulated time). Failing which a BMTC enforcement squad use to take them to task. Also it seams that they were warned if they happened to take a different route than the actual one (sometimes these buses to avoid traffic and also passengers!!) take small detours. Obviously he was cribbing about this :) I hope someday all BMTC buses will be fitted with GPS devices.

Marcopolo buses to be launched on Nov 1st

Vasanth - 28 October, 2008 - 12:34

2 Marcopolo buses will be launched on Nov 1st. Read that Non A/C buses costs around 32 lakhs and A/C bus costs 55 lakhs. Nothing announced yet on BRT!!!.

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