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Big 10s Backfire !?
Written By Vasanthkumar Mysoremath - 5 May, 2009
Bangalore BMTC Bus Complaint Big10 public transport
'Wary commuters avoid Big10 buses' - Deccan Chronicle 5-5-09 page3
Purport: About 100 Big10s are not being used by commuters and the negligent occupancy ratio is contributing to further losses to BMTC - not recognised or popular even after 50 days of intro.
What is not discussed is the comparison of fare structure and its impact on the economic viability for commuters in such a facility.
Is there a touch of 'class action' in introducing such a 'facility'.
-Vasanth Mysoremath
COMMENTS
Routes should be published on the Bus
Vasanth - 7 May, 2009 - 07:58
Earlier, BMTC had introduced MBS bus series with Grid Routes. It succeeded in few routes such as MBS 5 and failed in few.
These buses have the localities painted on the bus. Same way localities where the bus passes should be painted on buses of Big 10 and HOHO routes.
Especially HOHO most of the people do not know where it goes. Most of the passengers complain about this.
binaiks - 9 May, 2009 - 08:44
Hello all,
Big10 is undoubtedly a very good concept. I moved over from normal buses to Big10s over the past week (after a couple of very bad experiences, changing buses at Shantinagar - thanks to the apathic service during evening hours). I travel from Arakere Gate to Lavelle Road (near MG Road) daily. I take the Bannerghatta Road Big10 (numbered these days as "4B10") and travel upto St Patricks Church. From here I change over to an ordinary bus going towards Shivaji Nagar to reach my office.
In the return direction, I walk down from office to Brigade Road (about 1.1 kms) and then get into a Big10. The service is really nice, and is a very nice shift from Destination based routes to direction based services.
However, the entire concept is being tried in the midst of normal buses. For example, at 8AM, I have the choice of a Big10 (which usually arrives between 0755 and 0805) or the MBS13 (which departs at 0755~0800). Both these buses would go in the same direction. In case of a Big10, I need to change buses at SPC, while MBS13 would leave me right next to my office!
At the same time, I could also take a Majestic bound bus and change over at Shantinagar BS. All these choices end up in depleting the passenger base for Big10s. One thing that I have noticed in BG Road Big10 buses is that the highest passenger density is between Arakere Gate to BTM Checkpost/Jayadeva Hospital. This explains the need for Feeder buses on the Bannerghatta Road.
BMTC does operate feeder buses - BGF1 and BGF2 between Bannerghatta National Park/Jigani and Jayadeva Hospital/Dairy Circle. The need is to operate short feeder buses on roads that radiate away from BG Road. Currently, BMTC has a bus service (albeit with a pathetic frequency) from each Halli to KR Market/KBS. Instead of running a name sake service (which end up getting bunched), there should be feeder buses from each Halli to BG road, which connects to dedicated buses - which operate along Bannerghatta Road to Shivaji Nagar/KBS/Market. They need to operate every 5-15 minutes.
Big10 services are currently too disorganised. Especially those running on Hosur road and BG Road. On Thursday, I was at Brigade Road junction from 1755 to 1830. Two Big10 buses came, but both of them terminated their services there and announced that they were going back to their depot (Shantinagar). The result was that there was no bus for over 35 minutes. Finally, two Big10 buses (both heading to BN Park) came together at 1830. Both the buses filled in seconds, since there were that many people waiting to head to BG Road.
BMTC has posted a warden outside St Joseph's college (of Management). The Warden allowed both the buses to depart one-behind-the-other. This led to bunching of services. Something needs to be done to ensure that buses are operated at their designated frequency.
--
Thanks,
Binai Sankar
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Switch to Public Transportation, Save your city
silkboard - 5 May, 2009 - 09:43
MVK Sir,
I feel sad to see such comments from knowledgeable and experienced people like yourself. Why do we rush to get excited by reports that provide a piecemeal view of BMTC's operations.
One can't go to a car factory and just say that hey, look, the tire division is not making money, or that the body assembly line is not making money. The value is delivered by the whole car, not its parts.
Big 10 or Volvo or any other buses - we need to be patient and understand the other pieces in the puzzle that are not adding up to unlock the full value of BMTC. But if we get into this piecemeal criticism mode, only part of BMTC that will be left standing will be their real estate handling division.
Volvos may be debatable. But jumping to criticize Big10 is a bit much. Regardless of some criticism of the manner (abide etc) in which it is being implemented, Big10 routing is a real and practical attempt at restoring sanity to routing madness at BMTC.
Certainly not advisable to analyze things with tunnel visioned approach.
The experience also tells the truth, you can't fix the system..
Vasanthkumar Mysoremath - 5 May, 2009 - 10:18
SB Sir
Here is what KBS has said in a post above - regarding your Big 10 office commuting experience -cut and paste -
"The experience also tells the truth that, you can't fix the system by adding more fleet and new routes. The intro of HoHo and BIG-10 service is example in the case".
My getting into a mode of excitement - dies an unnatural death - as soon as I get into an ordinary bus. But as per your advise, I will be happy to see the Red bottom line turn into a Green bottom line of BMTC P & L Account (conditions attached).
-Vasanth Mysoremath
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