BMTC | Bangalore Metropolitan Bus Transport Corporation Updates

[engineer.akash]

Originally Posted by nandan_ks

Yes, Sudheesh, I know about that, i liked the way BMTC is trying to cash in on that.

You are right Nandan.

People in Mumbai are pleading for extra buses by BEST on Aug 12

I am going to spend the next few days spreading the message and trying to convince as many people as possible to boycott autos and taxis on August 12. We should request the BEST to help by plying extra buses on that day.
-Derek Newnes

Source

But Namma BMTC was way ahead of Meter Jam initiative with its BUS DAY campaign

Here is how BMTC responded to Meter Jam's Initiative

TAMING auto-crats

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: Say no to autorickshaws today. The trenchant online campaign to jam auto meters on Thursday got support from an unlikely quarter: the BMTC. Coming out openly in support of Meter Jam, the BMTC has said it will pool its spare buses and provide additional services on Thursday.

The boycott auto campaign has had a transforming effect on auto drivers who have now promised that they will come out with a pro-consumer and pro-commuter policy.

Adarsha Auto Union president M Manjunath told TOI that eight auto unions met on Wednesday to chalk out a pro-commuter policy in the wake of planned campaign against them. “The commuters are our gods. It is because of them that we survive. We promise to change unruly auto behaviour in the next three to four months.”

The unions have agreed to set up Namma Autos in different areas to counter the problem of refusals. “Batches of Namma Autos will be located in the busy areas. It will have drivers with a different uniform.They will have a display and a billing meter where we will hand out receipts to the commuters. There will also be cameras in these Namma Autos.

“We plan to set up a common phone number that commuters can call if some autos refuse to ply on any route. Immediately the Namma Auto will come to the aid of the commuter. The difference between Namma Autos and other autos will be seen in the response by Namma Auto drivers. Eventually those who refuse will have to join the Namma Auto scheme. They will be isolated if they misbehave and go against the unions’ decision,” Manjunath said.

The unions have also decided to set up a cell that will monitor tampered meters. The unions warned meter repairers that if they manipulated meters for drivers, their shops would be shut and owners would be taken to the police station.

Another decision: all drivers have to register with local police station. Police will hand out a number to the driver which he should make public. Only those with numbers will be allowed to ply autos publicly. Those without numbers and licences will be stopped.

He said the unions have decided to offer a reward of Rs 20,000 to auto drivers and Rs 10,000 to citizens who help in nabbing drivers with tampered meters. The unions will also offer a Rs 1,00,000 reward to the most honest, decent and fair auto driver of Bangalore.

TOI - e paper times

[SBC-YPR]

Originally Posted by nandan_ks

http://www.meterjam.com/

Just got an SMS from BMTC on the Meter Jam

I'm loving BMTC's marketing

Originally Posted by nandan_ks

i liked the way BMTC is trying to cash in on that.

+100.

One wishes organisations like IR were as good/creative with their marketing. Of course, one also needs like-minded individuals at the top for that.

[naveen_blr]

it was a flop show Bangloreans know only to blog and crib ...come the time they would take a rick back to office.

[sumant]

What are the other options if people dont opt for taxis or rickshaws to travel to their office or nearest railway station .I guess not much as there are not enough buses to ferry them to and fro even if the BMTC deployed extra buses.But atleast the authorities or taxi/ricksawallas would have taken notice.

[engineer.akash]

BMTC gets Bangalore to take the bus

Reasonable fares, regular frequency and flexible timings are encouraging people to use public transport

Bangalore: In his 23rd year of service, Anantha Padmanabha, a technical consultant with Wipro Ltd in Bangalore, opted for a daily ride in a Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus over company-provided transport to go to work.

He doesn’t have to wait for the company bus and can hop into a public bus early, at 6am, to avoid the chaotic traffic from his Hosakerehalli residence in south Bangalore to reach Wipro’s Electronic City campus office and leaves for home after 4.30pm, at his discretion.

Earlier, the 15km ride meant crawling in bumper-to-bumper traffic through bustling commercial and residential areas. The commute would sometimes take one-and-a-half hours.

“Now it takes me less than an hour in the morning to reach office and though it’s not an air-conditioned bus, the journey is quite comfortable,” said Padmanabha. “I am also home before the traffic hits the roads in the evening.”


Padmanabha is one of the 5,000 people at Wipro, out of the 18,000-strong employee base at the firm’s E-City campus, who chose BMTC’s unlimited ride scheme for Rs1,350 a month, largely due to the flexible timings, reasonable fares and frequency of bus trips.


Smooth ride: (top) Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation MD Syed Zameer Pasha, who himself takes the bus once in a while anonymously; Kempegowda Bus Station in Bangalore. Photographs by Hemant Mishra/Mint

Smooth ride: (top) Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation MD Syed Zameer Pasha, who himself takes the bus once in a while anonymously; Kempegowda Bus Station in Bangalore. Photographs by Hemant Mishra/Mint
Much of this transformation happened after BMTC launched a “Bus Day” concept in February—telling people to leave behind their vehicles and instead take a bus to work on the 4th of every month. It called upon large information technology (IT) firms such as Wipro, Infosys Technologies Ltd and Microsoft Corp. to be a part of the initiative. The effort clicked especially after the concept found champions at Bangalore’s two IT corridors—Electronic City and ITPL in Whitefield that together employ around 150,000 people.

On the first Bus Day in February, nearly 500 fewer private vehicles were parked at the Infosys campus as some 600 more employees than usual used public buses. Employees who came to work in their own vehicles were fined—they had to adopt a potted plant and maintain it either at home or work, an Infosys spokesperson said in an email.

In the last six months, the Bus Day has seen a 10% jump in BMTC’s daily ridership of 4.2 million people.

“It’s not so much about increasing ridership as it is about creating awareness to cut vehicle congestion and pollution,” said BMTC managing director (MD) Syed Zameer Pasha, who has played a pivotal role for the past 26 months. “We have to first modernize our fleet, create new routes and then tell people that they should take a bus.”

Pasha himself takes the bus once in a while anonymously. On 4 August, a Bus Day, he hopped into one of BMTC’s air-conditioned Volvo buses from his office at Shanthinagar to the Bangalore International Airport some 35km away, and tipped the crew to be more polite to passengers.

Pasha’s campaign has to succeed if Bangalore is to be saved from choking on its traffic. The formerly sleepy city, with a long past reputation as a haven for retirees, has bulked up into a metropolis over just a decade, almost as if on steroids.

It’s still much smaller than Mumbai or Delhi but has 3.7 million vehicles on its roads, 82% of which are two-wheelers, and nearly 1,100 new vehicles are being added every day. No wonder then that the average vehicle speed on some roads in Bangalore’s central area is slower than 15kmph at peak time, according to information on the Bangalore traffic police’s website.

Still, Bangalore doesn’t have any other organized mass transit system to compare with the Metro Rail in Kolkata and Delhi or Mumbai’s suburban rail network—leaving most of its people to depend on their own vehicles or the pesky autorickshaws for commuting.

The Karnataka government’s plan to build a bus rapid transit system (BRTS) in Bangalore with dedicated bus corridors for quick movement is still on paper, although a pilot is being done on a 35km stretch on the Outer Ring Road.

The city’s most awaited transport system is perhaps the Bangalore Metro. The first phase of the rail network will stretch over two of Bangalore’s busiest and oldest corridors, covering 42km and capable of carrying 1.02 million people daily, but will not reach the two IT hubs for now. The Metro is scheduled for an early 2011 launch.

“The wait (for Metro) has been long, but I think it will be worth it once it arrives,” said Shankar Govind, a 31-year-old computer hardware professional who recently went to experience a demo Metro rail coach on MG Road, near his office.

At least on routes to Electronic City, BMTC’s initiatives have evoked a sense of relief. The agency, for instance, has increased the frequency of trips on these routes and someone like Padmanabha wouldn’t need to wait more than five minutes for a ride.

At Wipro, the management’s on an informal internal drive to make its employees use public transport. “We encourage even senior management employees such as vice-presidents to take the bus even beyond the Bus Day and to use them to travel to Wipro’s other campuses,” said Ram Ramakrishnan, vice-president, facilities management group, Wipro.

BMTC makes 200-odd trips every day to Wipro’s campus at E-City.

The organization, with a fleet of 6,150 buses and 22,000 employees, is among the most profitable urban bus systems in the country. It is also considered by transport experts as one of the most modern public transport systems in India.

“BMTC easily tops the bus network system in India because unlike any other, it is constantly innovating ways to reach out to more people and by providing modern infrastructure management,” said Prashant Kakade, faculty head at the Pune-based Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT), which conducts training and research in public transport.

Still, he said, people in Bangalore and Pune are likely the most reluctant to uses buses as the cities do not have a multi-option, well-networked system of mass transport. Agencies such as BMTC and Bangalore Metro, after launch, should have a uniform fare structure and promise less travel time and high frequency, he added.

Following its success in the two IT hubs, BMTC plans to spread its “Bus Day” service to seven corridors to make the concept more popular. BMTC has taken on new initiatives such as constructing a slew of “traffic and transit management centres” with “park and ride” facilities where commuters can park their vehicles and take a bus to office along with providing first and last mile connectivity from the pick-up and drop points. It recently invested Rs600 crore, its highest so far, to create these “park and ride” facilities.

The Metro might eat into BMTC’s profits once it starts running. “But it’s ultimately good for the public and we are trying to work closely with the Metro Railway authorities,” said Pasha.

Live Mint

[Indian Sun]

Reasonable prices ?

[Mahesh Nanjunda]

An auto rickshaw/taxi would cost far more, with far less comfort. You can't expect dirt-cheap prices for Volvo buses..

[gentem]

Govt can subsidize(say 33%) public transport, though now bmtc is making profit... That should entice people to take public transport..

[engineer.akash]

Originally Posted by Indian Sun

Reasonable prices ?

They are reasonable,if you are thinking of lowering prices you will only tend to get low service,sorry there is no place for low service in Bangalore.

[naveen_blr]

companies can take the load off the employees by giving them free BMTC/BMRC passes or atleast pay 50% of it. Something common in the west.

[gentem]

Companies oppose common transport as it will lead to attrition Like infy guy meets wipro guy and jumps.. So infy arranges its own buses

[naveen_blr]

Jumps where? out of the bus? LoL or in Love? oops u said guy

[gentem]

jumps from one company to another... that is called ATTRITION

[nandan_ks]

edit: my response was to Naveen

[sudheeshnairs]

Originally Posted by Indian Sun

Reasonable prices ?

Prashant, yes, the fares are ‘reasonable’, for a guy like Anantha Padmanabha. Also for most of those who are the possible patrons of the service, and Bangalore have enough.

Volvo services are about 10% of the total fleet, and I think they are mostly aimed at those using four wheelers or company transport to switch over. A person who travels on a Rs. 4/- ticket will not switch to a Volvo paying Rs. 10/- or 15/-. But a person who drives to work will shift if the service is convenient. I have seen always the 335 series Volvos to Whitefield/ITPL/EPIP Zone along the Old Airport Road always full.

My wife now regularly commutes to Whitefield in Volvos, rather than using the company transport which would pick her up in front of our residence. The ride is better, she need to leave only at the time of her choice, and need to wait only for about 5 minutes to get a Volvo.

I find it very cheap to travel by Volvos and it provides faster and comfortable travel. Trust me, Volvos are faster than average private cars in the rush traffic of Bangalore. Sometimes I keep trailing Volvos so that he will make the way clear for me. Whenever I leave my car for service or some other reason, I depend on Volvos for my 11 km commute to CBD. It costs me only about Rs. 40/-. Earlier I used to pay around Rs. 150-200 for Cabs and about Rs. 80 for Auto Rickshaws.

Three Cheers to namma volvos

[naveen_blr]

yes Volvos here in EC are way too convenient , you have one every 5 mins atleast till Silk Board/Majestic further u have Jail Road which takes u to ITPL/Whitefield. Other buses include Vijayanagr/Utarahalli/Banashankari/Vijayanagar/BAIL

[Indian Sun]

Guys, I was comparing it with the Volvo prices back home in Chennai. Sorry to compare, but I pay Rs. 30 for a distance for which I used to pay Rs. 18 in Chennai, for the same service with similar frequency. Sure there are lesser Volvos in Chennai, but I don't see why there should be such a price difference.

Originally Posted by sudheeshnairs

Three Cheers to namma volvos

that's there boss. I love Vajra.

@naveen : you work in EC ? I'm there too. Yes, the service frequency here is very comfortable. And is Jail road the same as Hosa Road ?

[sudheeshnairs]

Prashant..comparison with Chennai or TN would not be right.

Perhaps due to populist measure of Govt,the bus fare/per km rates of Chennai/TN is very much lower compared with other southern states and rest of India. The bus fares are revised in other states with respect to the rise in fuel and other costs, but I think it is not done much in TN. I think the minimum fare is still Rs.2/ in TN, whereas in KA and KL seems to be Rs. 4 or 4.5/.

You can see the difference in the way KaSRTC buses/services appear/perform compared with TNSTC services. KaSRTC would be having 150-200 Volvo B7Rs & B9Rs wheras TNSTC is yet to have atleast one. Also the revolution which is happening with regards to the infrastructure like bus stations and other facilities in KA is phenomenal.

BMTC is a professionally managed, profitable public sector transport corporation, where as Chennai MTC, and for that matter most of the other similar bodies are not.

Bangalore has atleast 5 times more Volvos than Chennai, and the patronage of these buses are proven. Even then, it may post 'operational' losses because of the high initial cost as well as running costs.

[Indian Sun]

I guess that makes sense. BMTC, though having several drawbacks, are the forerunners for quality city bus services. If only the connectivity and reach was better, it would be great.

[bk3494]

BS Reporter / Chennai/ Bangalore August 19, 2010, 0:10 IST

The Bangalore Metroplitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) will run Mercdes Benz buses in Bangalore city for three months on a trial basis. For the first three days, the passengers using these buses will be charged only Rs 1 for a trip, said R Ashok, minister for transport.
Talking to reporters, here today, he said depending on the response from commuters, the corporation will take a decision on buying Benz buses for use. For the three month trial period, the Mercedes Benz has offered three buses free of cost, he said.
He said BMTC is also introducing free internet facility to commuters on the Volvo buses. The service will be first made available in one bus plying to and from the international airport.
The transport department has initiated measures to reduce the consumption of diesel in state transport buses, he said adding that the savings was made due to the usage of ethanol. Presently, 7.7 per cent ethanol is mixed with diesel in about 1,200 buses operated to Mysore, Davanagere, Bangalore Rural and Hassan depots. The government has requested the Central government to give permission for increasing the percentage of ethanol further. The use of ethanol has resulted in reduction of pollution, he said.
Ashok said, last year, 1.1 million litres of ethanol was used by the transport department and this year, it has been planned to purchase 4 million litres. The tenders have been floated for supply from the sugar mills, he added.

Source:http://www.business-standard.com/ind...-basis/404982/