BMTC's response to PRAJA's suggestions on Volvo

139

manjari - 27 August, 2009 | Bangalore | BMTC | Praja | Bus | Citizen Reports | engagement | Transportation | public transport

It is important that BMTC and Praja work together so that we can get people's voice to the right people and make a difference.

BMTC is open to our suggestions and has always welcomed it with positive attitude.

A list of suggestion regarding Volvo services (attached to this post)  was given to BMTC from Praja and it is good to know that they have taken those suggestions into consideration.
A post was posted reagrding the same: post on suggestions

BMTC has responded to the list of suggestions and looks like they are working on them as well.

The official response to Praja from BMTC is also attached to this post. 


COMMENTS

Manjariji / Syed Bhai,

My two paise:

1. The list is very good (conditions apply) and my personal feeling is, the list touches upon mostly  peripherial needs of commuters - how?

Because most these facilities and amenities sought sought to be dicussed in the meeting on 28th August 2009 with BMTC, as deficiencies in service can be stated to be associated with an otherwise efficient commuting system, if in place, that is catering to all classes of commuters.  

When there is a high level stratification and spread of available resources for Volvos across the board, can it be called 'an efficient social sector transportation infrastructure?'

2.   The following is the 'cut and paste' from the list of feed backs and suggestions given by prajas to BMTC on 28th April 2009 - pertains to Volvos NOT ORDINARY COMMUTING BUSES.

Could the Praja Team ask BMTC on 28th august 2009  what happened to these two points?

3.   Feedback:

a.       There is lot of redundancy in Volvo routes

b.      Volvo service doesn’t cover all areas.

c.       Volvo routes are not planned well to suite the commuters from areas which are not connected directly to choose an option of connecting from nearest bus station/changeover.

Suggestions:

a.       Got to be clear on "positioning" of Volvo service. Don't push Volvo for city wide connectivity, it may not be possible to promise an upper tier service that will take you anywhere to anywhere, not needed, and not feasible.

b.      Volvo started as "commuting alternative" for car users, it should stick to that - commuter chariot for select industrial areas. But even there, promise end to end connectivity via "connection" with other BMTC services. What I mean to say is - have trunk routes to ITPL, E-City, Airport, but promote "connecting" to these trunk long-haul routes via Big10, upcoming local shuttles etc. going down the path of "I will provide Volvo from every corner of city to ITPL or Airport" is not possible, not doable.

  8.  BMTC’s Clear Strategy
Feedback:
a.       There is no clear strategy visible from BMTC side on positioning Volvo service.
Suggestions:
a.       What exactly is BMTC's game plan here?
b.       If the intent of the subsidy is to move the car and 2-wheeler users into buses, when will the subsidy end, and when it does end will the Volvo fare be 10-15 times that of the ordinary bus?
c.       The Volvo is serious overkill in terms of luxury. Isn't it time to stop buying these buses and opt for cheaper ones even for the luxury service?
d.      If BMTC agrees with point 3, why is it in the process of buying 200 more Volvos (if I got the figure right)?

- vasanth mysoremath

This is good

silkboard - 27 August, 2009 - 19:17

Forget the possible debate we could get into about the quality of responses, or about Volvonomics and such - let us certainly not start another one here. But if more folks want to come forward and work with BMTC, I think we have seen that there is a channel here.

Manjari and team have been conslidating Praja talk and taking those to BMTC. Points to the future of Praja where few Engagement Managers stretch a bit to connect the discussions with a valid recepient would be a working application on top of this "virtual meeting platform" that is being built here.

I see a silver lining here!

kbsyed61 - 27 August, 2009 - 19:35

Certainly the response from BMTC doesn't dwell into details or specifics on all items. But it is a good beginning to get first hand responses from civic agency. Hopefully we should be able to build more bridges on that promise.

Ticket Fare & Passes - BMTC has been trying to further simplify fares and make them affordable by increasing volumes. Passes have been further revised. They can be renewed online on the new website and are also available with all conductors on Vajras. We will act on your suggestions to make them more widely available.

I certainly see some beneficial movement here from BMTC.

  1. If BMTC can truly rationalize fares making it affordable, more daily commuters would benefit. Interesting to note would be quantum of the change.
  2. Move on passes should also mitigate hardships that pass holders would go through on regular basis

SB, you are right. We should utilize the channels we have already established for further engagements. I am visualizing that Praja might need 2-3 teams working with BMTC on different aspects - Routes & services, Fleet Operations, Infrastructure, Finances and future planning etc.

Seeing the questions and feedback it was mostly relevant to Volvos. No harm here, since it is very much needed to take away the Bangalore 'car' traffic. But, we should come up with improvements of all categories of buses - such as GPS tracking of even Parisaravahini,Pushpak and Suvarna buses, improvement in quality of buses, increase the fleet and increase the comforts and aesthetics in ordinary buses too.

If 200 Volvos are added then 1,000 ordinary buses should also be added based on the BUS usage statistics of Bangalore. I think they are doing it already as I have read in paper.  BMTC should concentrate in reducing the crowd in ordinary buses by adding more routes . Fleet managment should be demand based such as more up routes during mornings and more down routes during evenings.  The core users of BMTC 'the parisaravahini' users because of which other users are getting the Volvo rides today should not be neglected in our efforts.

Let us keep Volvos out of loop in the next meeting and be a perfect 'praja' thinking rationally.

I was wondering what happened to the Marco Polo fleet that BMTC is expecting.

 

Ordinary Buses Wishlist

Vasanth - 28 August, 2009 - 03:31

Mysoremath Sir, please put your wishlist how you expect ordinary bus service ought to be. Please forget Volvo services while putting your wishlist - it will divert your thoughts. Let us be more constructive here rather than complaining. It is as simple as if someone says you "Hey why are you doing this way ?", the other guy would say "I would be always doing this way" or " Let me know what way you want me to do this". BMTC is of second category and asking suggestions. Instead of complaining, we should be rather constructive.

Good to know they are considering revamping the website. 

Cheers

Raj

 

Why are they ordering 200 more?

Vijay44 - 12 September, 2009 - 03:21

According to every one in this forum, and as per BMTC's own calculations, Volvo services are making huge losses. Then why are they ordering 200 more?

Don't you think, BMTC overall suffers because of the heavy loss incurred in running this service and also the heavy cost in aquiring the buses.  I am not sure why reputed people like Prof Ashwin, supports this nonsense.  I really wants to know who makes money in this deal.

We do not need Volvo City buses in Bangalore. We need comfortable A/C Tata/Leyland buses at better frequency. For the price of 200 Volvos,  BMTC could have purchase  500 non-Volvo A/C buses and provide better frequency.

 

 

 


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!