Training to Bus Drivers.

(1) Making sure that Bus drivers have a valid license.

(2) They should have a road/civic sense, understand traffic rules, and also follow them.

(3) They should be able to look at the various signs on the road and act accordingly.

(4) They shouldn't stop the buses at any points apart from bus-stops to load passengers.

In my opinion, if BMTC and their drivers start thinking in this direction and atleast start taking a few steps, many things can be solved like-

- Traffic jams at signals
- Lane discipline
- Major accident avoidance
etc etc

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Main problem occuring is vehicle crowd which delays the buses. It takes about 1/2 an hour in peak hour crossing places like BTM layout etc. So the schedules go haywire a lot.

. On saturdays/sundays number of  buses standing at the bus stand and arriving are more because the traffic on the road is quite lesser. Mondays and tuesdays the delay is the maximum owing to the maximum traffic.

The speed limit governance play a less role becaus in our city traffic buses hardly travel around 20-25kmph on an average. Mainatinence of buses also is quite better in Bangalore and we see very less buses having the problems some of which occur as the buses make more trips.

One more major issue is as already pointed out coming out of depot 7 i.e majestic depot in the morning. a conductor himself has told me this problem in a night halt bus where he came late by around 10 minutes(6:40 against his usual 6:30) and I asked him being his regular commuter that month.

During shift changing period a conductor travels to the bus terminus and takes over the duty from the morning conductor. However due to traffic he may also not get the bus from his residence which in turn delays the departure of his shift.

BMTC drivers have undergone  good training as far as I have seen. it is the other vehicle drivers who have a real problem of driving on the roads. There have been accidents of BMTC with other vehicles but has ever a BMTC rammed into another one? If only BMTC drivers were rash then we should be hearing that too regularly.Having reduced speed limit,following same route everyday,facing huge traffic and signals without having scope of escaping can sure cause stress but they have been able to manage it well. 5500 buses running in the city probably .5% might be rash which is very nominal figure.

BMTC drivers are at tiem corteous enough especially to elderly and impaired. Thats why you have them stopping at non-designated points too. they atleast have a bit of humanity-what do I call the 2 wheel drivers who ride on footpath and constantly honk behind a bus standing at a bus stop or overtake the same from left without allowing him to stop at the corner-or auto drivers who feel bus stop is an auto stop forcing buses to stop in the middle of teh road.

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Many times the same things have discussed, and at the end, a few people always try to find negative points about other means of communication and want to go away with what is the main point of discussion.

@ss87: I fully agree what you said about autos, 2 wheelers, cabs etc etc. Yes totally true and those should also be handled, caught, penalized and etc etc.

May be you are correct that they stop at non-designated points so that to help a few elderly people. Very good, and greatness of such drivers. But I see most of the times, a BMTC bus always stop keeping a 10 ft or a lane's distance away from bus-stop, causing vehicles behind them a lot of inconvenience. Already most of the bus-stops are a few meters ahead of signal but these buses stop just after crossing the signal again leaving a 10ft distance on their left. I know again people will tell that its the bus-boarders who stand there and hence bus stops there, but wait, are we solving the issue or playing the chicken-and-egg. Governance has to make sure that buses stop just at the stop and that too on the leftmost possible side making a way for other vehicles behind them. Also governance should make sure that people are educated as well as initially-forced to stand only on bus-stops. Also, you must have seen that BMTC buses try to overtake another bus on a bus stop, think of this situation on a just 2-lane road(one way), even the bus which is overtaking won't be able to go through, rest all other traffic.

My question again is- Do we want to solve this problems also apart from other problems mentioned in previous comment, or just want to make one problem as the excuse of another problem and go away with it.

The good thing in US or London is that, mostly every driver (be it of government public transport or private car or any taxi-cab driver), they all abide by the traffic rules, have a good road-sense and follow other's RIGHT-OF-WAY, which is very much important to make sure everything goes fine without controlling.

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@dvsquare

I am not blaming others alone-I knwo it happens with BMTC also. But many a times people find only BMTC at fault and hence I just elobrated at bit.

BBMP has done a god job near Madiwala market by constructing a bay and making buses stand inside it. Similar things must be ensured by them in all the areas and drivers must be given proper instructions to stop only in the bays.

Well we cannot blame bus boarders alone-fact that some buses-the parisara vahinis have their board  not displayed well forcing people to step out on the roads to see the bus board. The LED boards have solved it to soem extent and it is hoped all buses get the same now.Once that is done people can be made to stand on the footpaths-of course autos also must be regulated.

Well bus boarder will stand at stops if 2 wheelers get off the platform-ot is better to be safe expecting a vehicle on the road rather than get hurt from an unexpected one on the footpath.

Also as stated earlier other drivers must also ensure that they do not try to overtake the bsues from the left-especially the 2 wheelers-because of this drivers are scared to move their buses to the left lane fearing they hit a 2 wheeler. Of course people will say if buses are in the left lane why will we try to do it and blame game  but both of them must stop that.

BBMP,BMTC co-ordination can solve this problem to some extent, But traffic woes and other problems solved can only make the buses run to their schedule. That time can only tell.

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Would be good to add the Responsible, Accountable, Consulted people or authorities to each item in the output of RCA/fishbone.

Cal leave the I out of the RACI, that is us, citizens.

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@ramanathan_rmn

 If BMTC drivers strictly drive only in left lane, autowallahs and other drivers will not be able to overtake in wrong side. BMTC buses are usually either in middle of road or right lane, then suddenly take left lane and never enter bus bay, but stop in road thereby giving chances to other vehicles to wrongly overtake.

So I would say its BMTC to correct, may be other stake holders to co-operate.

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 We can try to add Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) in future . Frankly, I am still feeling that this RCA not complete and we, the general public, are viewing issues from particular angle. Probably some BMTC insider has to validate and add to RCAs. Next step would be add RAM.

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i have invariably undergone the ordeal of missing to board a bBMTC bus because of the intervention by autorickshaw drivers overtaking from left when a bus is approaching the bus bay.Whose responsibility is this to curb.KSRTC or POlice or jointly. or the public

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@Bheema

This is merely a blame game where one party blames the other. Now as a regular commuter I see both the things happening-other vehicles coming on the wrong side and BMTC too moving in the middle lane.  We also find many cars and other things parked on the left side owing to which BMTC has to switch lanes-no other go. Switching lane at stops becomes problem in the end. Other vechicle users must also understand that bMTC cannot squeeze its way through like them and hence must let go of the left lane. Similar to the auto rickshaw lane planned earlier,BBMP can create a BMTC lane on the left side of the road so as to avoid problems in many ways. The other option is to construct bays wherever space is available like at Richmond and Madiwala and to ensure for some time that both commuters and buses stop in the bay. Once people get used to it I think this problem can be solved to great extent.

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 The solution would be integrated approach which will involve many organizations and people

1. People : Do not obstruct vehicles. Do not come out bus stop just to be first to get in.

2. BMTC: Enforce left lane via different means

3. BBMP: Create lanes and/or mark lanes for BMTC 

4. Trafic Police : Enforce no parking in BMTC lanes

5. Private Buses: Follow same rules as BMTC. Work with BMTC.

6. Media : Give public interest ads for lane descipline

I agree that blame game is not going to resolve issues. 

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I agree here that its not only BMTC buses fault but BMTC can create example by taking a few good steps towards it. Its on the lines that just improve yourselves instead of finding faults in others. What BMTC can do is that, they should train (read force) their drivers to drive only on Left lanes so that gradually other 2-wheelers or cars or autos will not come in the left lane. Secondly they start not leaving any space on the left side when they stop at bus-stops, gradually people will start standing only inside the stands instead of coming on the roads. This way we will improve ourselves as well as by our behaviour we can make others also act properly.

For example, if you see on the ORR (from sarjapur signal to marathalli), a few irregularities -

(1) Buses (including volvo and the longer-double buses) take the service lanes. Now think how those narrow service lanes will accomdate such huge buses, also those lanes are 2-ways. Secondly, if buses are allowed, then why such a bad quality roads being tarred on service lanes, they are already gone, I think those got coated a few months back.

(2) I see bus bays in front of Eco-Space Tech park, but its not at all used. Even the official bus-stop is also a few distance before that bay just few meters after the previous signal. Buses as usual stop just after the signal a long before the official bus-stop, causing traffic jam at the signal. Buses leaving a lot of space (due to driver's negligence/ignorance as well as people's bad-civic-sense) on its left worsening the jam. If that bus-bay at a few meters ahead can be used for bus-stop, no traffic will be affected on those 3-lanes on ORR. Atleast 3 buses will be able to stand one behind the other on that bay without affecting any of the 3 lanes on ORR.

(3) Thirdly, we should never forget the pedestrians mistake also, they also are equally to be blamed as much any rash driver. In front of the Accenture( the same Ecospace), all the people who want to cross the road just stand on the whole of the left lane, now how would a bus or a 2-wheeler or any slow-moving vehicle will go smoothly. And to add to that these people just start crossing the road putting their's as well as riders life also in danger. The need of the time is to build a sub-way or a pedestrian overbridge which can give a way to cross the road.

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blame game is not going to resolve issues

Perfect - No point in holding one entity such as BMTC drivers responsible for the chaos. What is necessary is many more wardens at dense points during peak hours to direct pedestrians, passengers waiting at bus stops, BMTC buses & chase away obstructing /parked vehicles from near bus stops or signal lights & intersections.

I have seen this being done successfully in many other highly populated cities in Asia - Hongkong, KualaLumpur, Guangzhou & Shanghai, & also posted some pictures here. Our babus undertake several study tours at tax payers' cost, but do nothing since they remain unquestioned & the system allows them to get away easily!

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As mentioned in earlier post to prevent people to come onto the roads BMTC must take the 1st initiative of keeping its board properly. Except for the old buses and the brand new buses having LED boards the buses in the middle genration which are in plenty do not have proper boards. People are forced to step out and get a correct angle of where the board is and then see its number. So the steps to be taken will be

1. Place the board properly or best use the LED boards

2. Then train the drivers to go close to the stops

3. Prevent other vehicles stalling near the bus stops

4.Prevent 2 wheelers from riding on footpath so that people can stand on them

5.Construct bus bay and ensure bus comes to the halt inside. Ensure bus bay is either constructed at the present stop or in case of shifting instruct bus drivers as well as commuters to move inside the bay.

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Yes, its good that everyone is agreeing to one that collaboration is required and that's the only way we can achive some thing positive out here.

Now, there are many authorities like BMTC, Traffic police, BBMP etc which can instruct their employees to make sure the proper actions taken place. But again the major challenge I would think of is for the Traffic Police. They have to take this as a challenge and show some positive results. Government should also increase the police force if required and budget to make this work. Why, I have said is that we all know that in today's Indian democratic world, its like "all said and nothing done". You train, advice BMTC drivers to keep buses in left lane, stop close to bus stops etc. You can make BBMP take the actions to create dedicated lane, but how to ensure that drivers are following that religiously, BBMP workers are doing what being planned. And most importantly, the major challenge is citizens, pedestrians, other riders/drivers, auto-drivers, cabbies etc. Everyone has to agree that excluding a few good citizens, You always have a larger percentage of people on road not at all following any rules or they just ignore it. And that's where the Traffic police or wardens or whoever has a bigger role to play.

These forces have to ensure that -

(1) BMTC drivers stick to left lane, stop close to bus-stop, and don't stop at non-designated stops unless unevitable.

(2) Other drivers/riders, autos, cabs etc are forced to not to be on the left-lane blocking buses movement. No mean No.

(3) Pedestrians shouldn't be allowed to stand on the road when signal is on or traffic is flowing-on, may be the final solution is to make foot over-bridge wherever required.

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I mean, you are there, exactly what I have been thinking about this.

Say thanks to all-

(1) Drivers standing before white line

(2) Pedestrians waiting for their green to cross the road.

(3) Bus drivers standing at the designated bus-stops.

Give some card/message to those -

(1) Pedestrians Crossing the road with phone on ears

(2) Drivers standing crossing white line.

(3) Drivers honking to go cross the signal before their turn

(4) Bus drivers not standing leftmost on the bay

(5) Riders driving on the footpaths.

And last not the least... Gandhigiri is definitely going to work.

I am with you Bheema. You can contact me, we can have a joint discussion on this how to plan on that. Please DM me your mail-id/contact and I will send mine and lets have a effective plan.

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I am glad a lot of thinking going in and the scope has gone just BMTC. I would continue with RCA series for BMTC issues. Meanwhile I was thinking , why can not we, the public, start a movement in simplest form possible? This should have an impact on drivers,  not only BMTC drivers but also others. I would  be among first to join.

Some kind of simple ways are coming in mind. 

Example 1) : Some hundreds volunteers roaming in city carrying messages at the same time say Monday 4.30PM to 5.30PM

Example 2) Some mass volunteers giving red slips to the people who cross white stop lines in signals with no penalty or challan but rather with a nice smile. Humiliation works ;) Lots of cards required at Hosur Rd/ Begur Rd Junction .. :-D

Example 3)  Volunteer Kids giving "Thank You" printed(hand printed) cards to BMTC drivers who stop in bus bay nicely. Or "Welcome to bus bay"

Example 4) Showing moving signboards(People carrying signboards)  in huge scale for say one or two hours in specific day. Signs like "No Overtaking", "50KM/h". Wave the boards to draw attention. This should not be a tiring exercise, rather short nice exercise with young people.

Example 5) A shake hand to the people who are standing on road and who just finished jay-walk. Shake hand followed by a "No Jay-walk please" or "No standing on road" card.

Example 6) Funny cartoon signs/caps shown by kids for different purposes.

Example 7) Mock violation and corrective work. Some volunteer to violate simple rules and police giving corrective work in stead of challan. Some group of people to draw public attention. This is like street dramas(people shouldnt know its a drama).

Many ideas would come out from my fellow citizens with "Think Global, Act  Local" attitude. I know its funny and childish , but doable at least as trial.

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Bheema,
 Nice suggestions. Just plan a event and Go for it. I am sure many Praja members would join you in this campaign, including myself.

Coming Bus Day on April 7th would be good start. Can plan the campaign around the corridors that are identified for coming Bus Day.

Let me know what help you need from my side. I am based in US, but my services available always for our Namma Bengaluru.

Syed

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 @dvsquare,

Thanks a lot for extending your willingness to go practical. I understand how much we , the people, feel need for a relief from non-followers.

Frankly I feel we are not ready yet for any implementation . So may we go for more ideas and inputs from more people? By the way, Is there anything like "Trending topics" in praja.in? So dvsquare , shall we wait for some time before next step? Thanks in advance.

As per TQM, lots of brainstorming has to happen before we start. 

@All,

1) Do you have any ideas for showing peculiar ways of expressions targeted  for private bus/auto/cab drivers? 

2) Do you have idea how bad people can react if someone starts movement like this? ( Example : Volunteers may be humiliated, physically assaulted , "who are you to tell me?" attitudes, anything like that)

3) How much you estimate in terms of % of people who may get positive impact? Why some people will not get positive impact. For example a uneducated  lorry driver/auto driver may not understand the motto at all.

4) What kind of people we should have as volunteers? 

5) How do you classify a non-follower person? Uneducated, Uncultured, Egoistic,  Politician, Under medical/other emergencies etc

6) How many time , you think, this event to be repeated, to see visible trend in people?

7) How do you think this will affect, non-local people, other cities? Will the message to go other cities just by organizing here in Bangalore?

8) How do you handle language barriers? Say , if you give a Kannada/English Card to a person who does not understand both languages? Estimate for such people?

Meanwhile some more examples(warning : not simple , costing ! Can be next step) I came up with :

Example 8) Spitting is birthright of  human beings, specially Indians:). So keep some spittoons  with a striking designs at few bus stops/trafic signals/streets, some volunteers guide people to use it. Lighter Note: If BMTC/BBMP/BTP wants to implement, a school competition can be held for creative spittoon design. Lots of my kids projects are going waste as an exhibit in school. They are used a prestige item for class/school. Imagine, how much your kid going to enjoy if his or her project put into realtime usage? Note: maintenance to be planned before installing? If not maintained, then its flop idea.

Same case for different card design. 

Note: I liked the brilliant idea, though not ethical, some people kept god's pictureframes in potential spitting areas. So spitting there meant spitting on very god. Did you note?

Example 9) In line with BBMP concept, put some artwork(not just painting) in bus-stop.People should be proud to get photographed in bus-stop. I am sure lots contemporary (high-end artists Kannada:  ಬುದ್ಧಿಜೀವಿ ) artists will come forward. Who does not want free publicity? :-D  Hmm, there is chance of stealing, but let us be ready and get artwork accordingly.

Example 10) Supply some cool drinks/biscuits/Chocolates  to people who violated rules, then the ticket(card). :-D

I am double sure, more ideas will flood before we go to streets !!!

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Bheema,

Your last post is an eye-opener to the fact that we have perhaps one of the worst lot of ground-level enforcement personnel anywhere in the world, who will not change even if funded & trained to improve by the govt in the conventional way since the various tiers of supervision are extremely weak, very poor & without sufficient thrust right down from ministerial levels. Enforcement ultimately depends on the lowest level ground staff such as constables & traffic wardens on streets, who are used to circumvent procedures by law & let off offenders when bribed - changing this is not easy & needs very serious efforts right from the top which will invite unacceptable political backlashes.

I have travelled to almost all corners of the world & seen how much poorer countries such as Abidjan & Lome in West africa, Dar-es-Salaam, Maputo & Beira in East Africa, & Vietnam & Cambodia in East Asia have far better on-street enforcement than in any Indian city.

Whilst it's true that we have galloped ahead economically with the resultant huge increases in vehicle populations, our leaders, bureaucrats & enforcement agencies, such as traffic police in this instance have remained very backward & have not proportionally scaled up to the new realities that demand far higher levels & quicker responses to changes. Serious commitment to create appropriate infrastructure, monitoring or enforcement is also hampered for fear of backlashes from individual interests - this is the crux of all the problems we face, streets being one of the most visible.

You mentioned about attitudes such as: "who are you to tell me?" "Why some people will not get positive impact", "Spitting is birthright of human beings, specially Indians:)" - All these need harsh measures such as heavy fines & punishment since it is public property that they ruin, but again enforcement is the key that has been missing, & govt agencies remain mute spectators since if serious efforts are made to rid & shake off these habits, it will be seen as "harsh" & "undemocratic" & will not win elections. So, we just continue to rot as things worsen.

There is only one hope - ie. the creation of mass transits such as Metro-rails that have taken off somehow after Delhi Metro. This will at least divert some of the road traffic & reduce volumes when enforcement might become easier than it is now - we can only hope that we somehow wriggle out of the hole that we have dug ourselves into:). Token efforts have little chance of success.

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Hi Bheema,

(1) First we should start with appreciation and make some fans and our supporters, then we will target the bad people. So, while appreciation drive, a lot of people will get to know good-doings of us and later can help us in confronting the bad drivers etc.

(2) We should take Mr. Sood also in the confidence that we are starting this drive so that we can have some support from him and his staff also, because that will be very much needed.

(3) From the volunteer side, we have to have a good number of people together doing this - 2 reason - (a) people will not take it funny or granted (b) We as a bunch will have more support and confidence and resistance to tacke any unsocial act.

(4) Later, we may also try to talk to a few companies and professionals in that area like ORRCA on outer ring road etc for further support and whatever we need from them.

Will keep updating more idea.

Regards

Deepak

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There has to be a better system for towing away broken down busses. This evening I was stuck for half an hour at CNR Rao circle near IISc. thanks to a single broken down BMTC bus. The bus seemed to have broken down a while before and had the requisite stones around it - but no tree branches as all the trees in the neighborhood have been killed. Its ridiculous that a single vehicle can cause such a massive pile up. They should have a system by which busses can be towed away or repaired quickly and bus drivers should be made to try and move the bus to the side of the road if possible, instead of throwing up their hands and collecting stones to place around it.

Oftentimes these breakdowns take several hours to be cleared up and that causes hours of delays for thousands of people.

RAmesh

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 Bus and Truck breakdown on the highways are even more dangerous. Broken bus or truck are stopped wherever it is without any cones being placed. Usually some trees are placed. This has resulted in so many accidents especially broken vehicle in a curve.

Recent accident of Mangalore bound KSRTC Volvo, age old accident of veteran actor Shankar Nag are some of the examples.

We do not have a Patrolling  which leads to all these accidents,confusions and chaos.

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Bheema,

I have read in the newspaper 2 weeks back that around 700 staff is deployed at various bus-stops in the city to police and make sure that BMTC buses stop at the proper designated stops and not in the middle of the road.

That day, even I have seen those people around Kasturba Road, but still I don't any such people exclusively on the Marthalli outer ring road. Already flyover construction is making the traffic mess, on the top of that, BMTC drivers make it worse stopping at any place just after the singal on the middle lane.

Regards
Deepak

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