Sir,

As an experimental basis can we have a buses only day within Bangalore CBD, ofcourse those who wants cars' comfort can pay extra from their earnings. 

Can the pilot project be run on a Saturday or Sunday or atleast half a day during the weekends'?

P.S.

Ofcourse; people needs to informed in advance of Pilot project.

Cheers
Abhilash

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There is no point to these 1000 buses without proper route planning or enforcing stopping at designated bus stops. They will just add more fuel to fire up the existing chaos!! To quote an example, there are several of the "Vajra" series nowadays 

a. Route and frequency: There are tens of these buses throughout the day from ITPL to Majestic, especially between regular working hours (10AM to 4PM). Almost invariably, these (between 10AM and 4PM) run empty or close to empty. But there are laughably few buses during regular commute hours (7AM to 9AM or (5PM to 7PM)

b. Incorrigible stopping: Case in point, the "500" series from ITPL - 500K, 500C, 500KM, 500KA, 500KB and what not. Each and every one of these go through the same route after Silk Board and stop at the same places - typically at the worst possible places i.e. middle of a traffic intersection or right in the middle of the road or diagonally across the road at corners or whenever somebody on the road raises his/her hand for the bus to stop. I am all for customer service but what is the point of every bus stopping at every single corner. When you have so many buses and charge a premium, why cant you stagger the stops and run a quicker route? Dont stop at every single point. You'll probably have a FAR better mileage and far more customers because you are quicker than the regular "jhatka" gadi buses!! Right now, the "Vajra" is more or less a red gilded version of the old blue Ashok Leyland buses. Why, even the conductors from those buses have begun to show up on these Vajra ones and that too with the small paper tickets ( which BTW ensures that you never know whether you paid the right fare or whether the conductor just made you pay 30-35 bucks because he couldnt care less)

So think about a situation where you have a "Mongolian horde" of Jnnurm buses descending on the road with no rhyme or reason. Pretty good time for everyone, eh?

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Ploease correct me if I am wrong or else please elucidate - No doubt your observation is very valid - when there is no physical availability of  road infrastructure, for the buses to be in place on road, what is the sanctity in introducing - is it just to honour a contract to purchase new buses and to rake in the moolah?  If a bus can occupy about 60 feet - we need 6000 feet of road to accommodate these new buses and my car will be that much behind all these buses to the same destination.

- vasanth mysoremath

- . 

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 It is just a perception that Volvos even stop in every stop and just run like normal buses. But, I have travelled in normal buses and Volvos in the same route on ORR at the same periods, it results me in almost 30 minutes difference for a 25 km commute from BSK III Stg to Marathalli. Because of the airconditioning, you will be in good 'presentable' form compared to normal buses by the time you get down.

Normal buses do not have the pickup that the Volvos have got. Also, even when the road is free, when all the vehicles are rushing, normal buses do not have the power to match two wheelers and cars and you will get frustated and feel like why didn't you bring your bike/car.

Stops everywhere will just add 5 minutes delay. Delays are mostly in signal lights. But stops everywhere has resulted in a better frequency. Current setup which is working fine should not be disturbed by misconception. Actually speaking, there is not much premium we are paying on Volvos nowadays compared to the days when launched. 

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1.The roads are still narrow.

• You get buses for narrow roads. BMTC used to run them as well. If it doesn't want to, some Praja members are willing to run them for local last mile journey

2.The Bus Depots are still under construction or tenders are just out.

• Very valid point.

3.The routes are not planned to run this 1000 odd buses.

• With Big10 like rationalization efforts, this has some hope

4. The TTMC are still under construction state & looks like it will come up only during mid of Next year or end of next year.

• Looks like TTMCs are anyway not fitting in routing or even parking plans. Most members here feel that they seem irrelevant in context of BMTC's real mandate.

The point of 1000 buses is to

1. Replace 400 that retire every year.
2. Add to growing needs, goal of BMTC is to take Bus usage up from 30-32% to 40-45%
3. Make people switch from Cars. 4 Cars off the road makes way for 1 more bus. Commuters to ITPL know what this means, thanks to 335E and 500K. The difference is there to be seen.

Given that Bangalore road use efficiency is (this is my number) not more than 60%, I think we have enough road space to work with. But getting bus usage up from 30-32% to 40-45% will need more than just buses. Certainly.

Vasanth - bang on. Everyone thinks its A/c, but the advantage these buses have is speed. Time costs much much more than comfort.

I bet BMTC should look at 300 hp buses without A/c. I think the sweet spot for a city bus is

• power, pick up
• low floor, at least half of the bus, like Volvos are.
• comfortable interiors - not just seating, but less metal, protruding nails etc
• and, suspension

How are the semi-low floor JNNURM buses (the blue ones) on pick-up and suspension?

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The much hyped Volvos with half of the floor at low level are not user-friendly due to-

1.Even though you may board the bus with low floor more easily, there is no proper handle to hold immediately as the bus starts moving always with a jerk .

2. The low floor necessitates you to climb on to the seats in the front as well as back sides, partly nullifying the advantage of the low floor.

3. In the front half, where the floor is low the ceiling is too high and the swinging handles are not accessible even to commuters of normal height, and it is impossible to use  for those of less height including women and children.

4. The swinging handles do not help one to stand steady during the jerks, sudden accleration, turning  and braking of the bus and while moving inside the bus after boarding and before alighting from front to rear and back.

.

 The design of future buses should take into account the ergonomics to avoid the above short comings.

K.V.Pathy

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Good News is I noticed BMTC has started Depot No. 34. I have noticed couple of buses with Depot No. 34 on them & the routes are mustly towards Bannergata Road. This is a good sign that BMTC has place for another atleast 100 buses or +. Good News to decongest the congested buses.

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News: Government says KSRTC will get 5500 new buses out of which 1640 are for inducting into BMTC - plans to phase out 6-7 years old buses.  

Good: new buses are welcome for mofussil and suburban routes where stratified service continues with worn out seat covers/dirty /broken glass panes and congested space between rows.

Bad: BMTC is getting 1640 buses - assuming about 640 old aged buses are phased out, the other 1000 new buses, each requiring at least 40 feet of road space. If I am travelling in car, I have to be 40000 feet behind these new buses.

Ugly: .Where is the road space for these new buses?  Even if they are green buses, what would be the rate of spewing CO2/GHGs by these monsters on road?  How much more of air pollution can Bengaluru take?   

Vasanthkumar Mysoremath

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