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BMTC Volvo Frequency Reduction - Subcontracting main reason?
Vasanth - 27 April, 2012 | Bangalore | BMTC | Bus | Volvo | Complaint | Vajra | Transportation | public transport
Offlate BMTC is sub contracting lots of Buses to Private Companies like Manyata Embassy, ORRCA etc resulting in the reduction of frequency for common passengers especially in the peak hours. Also, there are too many buses in some route and very little in few routes.
Here is my personal experience. I work in Doddanekundi area and live in Kattriguppe. I had subscribed to office shuttle, but the timings are way too early starting at 6:50 am. If I miss, I used to take 500K variants (500K,500KB,500KG) etc and changeover to 500D in Marathalli Bridge. After looking at the time flexibility of Volvos, took a Volvo Monthly Pass.
We had a bus every 15 minute starting from 6:30 AM to 8:00 AM. Between 8:00 AM to 8:45 AM, there used to be bus every 5 minute and again with 15 minute frequency from 8:45 to 10:30 AM.
Now, from past 1 year, there is no single bus between 7:45 AM to 8:45 AM. I haven't observed buses between 6:30 to 7:45 AM. Between 8:45 and 9:15 ,once in 10 minutes, two to 3 buses come. There are so many passengers, especially IT folks, desperately waiting in Bus Stops for these Vajras. Sometimes, these buses do not turn up at all like Today I ended up waiting 30 minutes between 8:30 to 9:00 am in the same bus stop and had to return back thinking of working from Home.
Same way, there used to be 201R every 10 minutes from morning 6 AM till 10:30 AM and again every 30 minutes there after. But, now, even in peak hours, frequency has been reduced to once in half hour.
But I see so many Volvos plying with board Manyata Embassy, ORRCA etc, not in ring road, but on Bank Colony main road at around 8:00 AM in the morning.
I did a followup with BMTC through e-mail, and asking them is it due to outsourcing Vajras. They say none of these buses are outsourced and the outsourced buses are from seperate pool 
. BMTC did not buy any new buses for these companies. How come a seperate pool emerged for outsourcing?
Apart from this, there are so many hiccups on the travel. Kadarenahalli Underpass is not completed even though it started before Namma Metro . Namma Metro reach 1 is operational, whereas this underpass is still not. Buses go around till Tyagarajnagar adding 3 kms of extra travel. Private vehicles take 1 road deviation. Banashankari TTMC entry and exit is resulting in nearly 10 to 15 minutes time waste for Passengers. Plus the metro work near RV Road end to Banashankari results in deviation again. We will be beating around Banashankari area itself for 30 minutes.
Then comes the Agara Flyover, where all the private vehicles fly over flyover, whereas BMTC has to wait a minimum preference signal under the flyover which has to be waited minimum of 2 times to cross and a less density bus stop which BMTC is reluctant to move before or after flyover.
If we compare a private vehicle travel, I can reach Kattriguppe to Jayadeva Hospital in 20 minutes, whereas the bus takes minimum 45 minutes. If for bad luck we have a Bad Conductor / Driver (Drivers sometimes are too slow chatting with conductors or on cell phones, conductors wait a lot in stops if buses are not full) , it takes 1 hour. Then comes BTM traffic, where 2 wheelers and private vehicles take internal roads whereas buses struck in traffic will take 30 minutes to reach Silkboard. From Silkboard to Doddanekundi, I can reach in 30 minutes even in peak hours. Thanks to the flyovers.
If we take the walking time, waiting time, overall travel is 2 hrs to 2 hrs 30 minutes :)
In a Bike, we can reach 1 hr 15 minutes and in a car 1 hr 30 minutes.
Across the world, traffic planners are talking about BRTS, so is in India in cities like Ahmedabad. Whereas, in Bangalore, unnecessary delays are introduced for Buses is resulting in loss of time without any special infrastructure requirement due to rigidity in routing and lack of proper and consistent frequency.
COMMENTS
First round failed :(
Anithasunil - 23 May, 2012 - 03:38
In anycase, the first round seem to have failed.. I got a reply from the co-ordinator saying the service is only for xyz companies...
We will wait for updates :)
anything new here?
murali772 - 1 May, 2012 - 11:32
Check this. And, does anybody still believe we have an option other than this?
Bendy A/C Buses to increase the capacity?
Vasanth - 4 May, 2012 - 09:40
I am wondering why Volvo has not launched Bendy A/C Volvo Buses. Competitor like Mercedes which failed with city buses,could have capitalized on this and could have launched Bency A/C Buses. This will reduce the crowd on the buses. Also staff problem of BMTC could be addressed as well with more passengers to staff ratio.
Praja Friends - Partial BMTC Strike Today
Vasanth - 27 April, 2012 - 06:07
Today, there is a partial BMTC strike and very less number of Buses are plying. Please plan your commute accordingly.
faced this recently myself
silkboard - 29 April, 2012 - 14:48
Had to go from Whitefield side to JP Nagar, made the mistake of relying on BMTC. Last time had tried this at late night hours (9.50 PM), had no problem going to Marathahalli then walking down (through the horrible footpaths there, that's a separate story) to Outer Ring Road to catch a 500 or D-5. Yesterday, had to wait at ORR bus stand opposite innovative for 35 minutes to see any 500 (coming from Hebbal Side, or ITPL side, Vajra, or regular D-5 etc). A 500c arrived eventually, very crowded of course, had to settle for that.
Last month, got a chance to to wait for 335E on Residency Road bus stand, at peak hours, 5.30 pm types. Both times, wait was more than 20 minutes. I know that they do something to maximize on running all 335Es out from ITPL side at peak hours. But when I did this same route back in late January a few times, didn't have to wait this long.
Labour trouble, capacity reduction (that's what the 500c driver said) - something may be up on Vajra routes.
Whatever the reason, cannot BMTC regulate their return timings to serve the commuters better?
K.V.Pathy
exploiting opportunities like any businessman
murali772 - 15 May, 2012 - 10:09
BMTC has long ago switched from serving the interests of the aam-aadmi to making making money out of the well-heeled IT folk, as well as the airline passengers. That would have been OK if it wasn't a monopoly; that part of it's what is unacceptable. For more, check here.
Meanwhile, the politicos whose fiefdom it has got converted to exploit it this way
Nine 500 Cs in just 5 mins at Agara Junction at 9 AM today
dvsquare - 14 May, 2012 - 05:51
Today, I was coming back from outer ring road to koramangala, and I saw 9 500 C's coming on the other side going towards marathahalli at agara signal.
9:00 one 500C
after 30 seconds, another
after 30 seconds, another
after 1 min, another
after 30 seconds, another
just behind that another
3 more 500 C standing on the signal to turn Green, will be on the same agara bus-stop in another 30-50 seconds.
I didn't understand how come 9 buses of the same series 500C can be on the same bus-stop in the span of less than 5 minutes. I am sure, after these buses have gone, no more buses must be coming for more than an hour. Why such unplanned 500C volvo going around in the city? Had these buses be spread every 6-7 minutes, they would have easily covered 1 hour (9AM to 10AM), so that all the people can make use of those buses while going to their offices on ORR.
Not sure, this is the total no-planning from BMTC side or its just the drivers or individual depo's running their own way.
Deepak
Can we do anything like a PIL in the court?
Vasanth - 15 May, 2012 - 12:40
Hi Murali, can we have a PIL or something like that in the court to stop this subcontracting and stopping the TTMC 'business'?
@dvsquare Depends on where
Anithasunil - 14 May, 2012 - 10:41
@dvsquare
Depends on where you found it..
BMTC is leasing buses to a private agency for theoffice shuttles to ORRCA. These buses which drop employees, at the offices around ORR in the return trip goes as 500C's towards silkboard or towards ITPL or 335E's towards majestic or towards ITPL.
These bus routes being designed to drop people at offices at different times, there are a bunch of these buses reaching the ORR offices around 8.00AM, and another bunch at 9.00AM and so on..
Given that you found them on ORR, near 9.00AM, I am pretty sure, it must be some of these buses.
Ok, got it, may be the reason
dvsquare - 14 May, 2012 - 16:57
I didn't know about it, so just observed and tried to put it here.
Good that you clarified this.
Now-a-days my office is no more at ORR, so don't go much towards that side.
Those days, I used to see more than 2-3 500 C volvos at the same signal on ORR, so this scene captured my attention prompted me to write this comment.
Deepak
Buses being used for ORRCA between 7 to 10 am is the problem
Vasanth - 15 May, 2012 - 04:23
Buses being used for ORRCA and Manyata at peak hours like 7am to 10 am and evening 5PM to 8PM .
As Deepak mentioned 9 500Cs which were converted from ORRCA buses within 5 minutes and towards Banashankari instead of ITPL says it all. Even if it is towards ITPL, it would be from Bellandur.
Inappropriate use of JNNURM funded buses
skumaras - 15 May, 2012 - 18:17
I am not sure what sort of amount BMTC would be collecting from the private companies, but I doubt very much whether BMTC would be able to recover the capital costs of the expensive Volvos just from that earnings. Otherwise we would have seen many private operators like SRS jumping into the fray with Volvo A/C buses for serving the private companies.
On quite a few occasions, I have seen Volvo buses with the JNNURM badging being used for these contract services. This is very inappropriate of BMTC since JNNURM funds are the general tax payer’s money and BMTC should not be using to provide service to a select few.
It would have been a different matter altogether if BMTC had allowed anyone to board those buses. But the contract buses are reserved for those companies and they run relatively empty while the other buses run jam packed. BMTC has probably decided that now that many people have committed to using buses and purchased monthly passes, they will put up with whatever quality of service that BMTC can provide them.
Wishlist
Anithasunil - 16 May, 2012 - 05:43
I heard from someone that, BMTC would lease a bus for a particular route, if they can asure 41 passes taken in that bus every month. Each pass would give BMTC the same revenue as a pass older in the regular BMTC buses. This pass could be used in regular volvos (and other buses) as well. What I dont know is the cost of a single pass.
I used to work in ITPL sometime back, and the transport was run with leased ITPL buses. There, I believe each employee using the ITPL transport paid something of the order of Rs 1400/- per pass. But, since that was divided between the BMTC buses, running at peak hour, and periodic shuttles operated by a private operator, on selected routes, I am not sure, what part went to BMTC. (This was not the volvo buses.. The regular pushpaks, I believe.)
But the BMTC passes we got, which we were using in these buses, had an seal over it, which read Rs1100/- (If i remember correctly).. If that is the money going to the BMTC kitty, I would think that the revenue from each user, using these leased buses is double that form the regular services... So, maybe it is justified to run it at haf the load!
Part of my wishlist is that they would give extra routes based on demand from private companies, but run them as regular buses!
BUS IN BANGALORE
viswanath - 17 May, 2012 - 07:11
Dear All,
The buses plying on the road is not restricted to a set number of people, the concept is for everyone in thecity who can afford the pass. It works on the simple note as a normal bus pass system. How a person cannot use a normal bluebus pass in a volvo, same way the volvo pass cannot be used in these premium routes.
If you go to BMTC and buy the premium pass, you can not only use these buses, but any other buses too.
The concept is mis-understood is what I strongly feel.
I will be glad to meet with all of you, I AM SO HAPPY that PEOPLE are asking questions and we from PRAJA will be able to support and guide people in all good mass transport initiatives be it, carpooling, bus pooling, green iniatives like cycling, mass transport system., infact there is another new mode of transport which I saw in China which is like a MOVING ARCH which moves on ring roads and under the moving arch normal traffic flows uninterrupted, these are some good moves that the govt must take and utilize funds to make our transportation system better., no hard feelings / mis-interpreetation of my suggestions to be done is requested humbly.
I wish good luck and a GREEN FUTURE for all of us., Praja is rocking !!!
Regards.
@ViswanathThanks a lot for
Anithasunil - 17 May, 2012 - 09:01
@Viswanath
Thanks a lot for the information. If that is the case, I would really like to test it out!
Can anyone get such a pass from BMTC? I find that there are a lot of AMD and Manyata tech park buses plying on my route, and would like to see if it is possible to use them!
I would also like to know if the Drivers/Conductors are aware of this.. Because, many a time, I have seen hapless passengers getting into the ITPL buses by mistake, and being dropped off inside the ITPL campus. Sometimes, the drivers just refuse to let them down before that, since checking for passes used to happen within the premises! The last thing I want would be to be dropped off at manyata tech park instead of KRPuram :)
Dear AnithaSunil,
I would request you to pl contact the BMTC central office or Majestic office, they would guide you and help you with the pass, at the same time, pl email me your request, I will forward it to the BMTC team too.
It will be a good audit for the same too.,
Thanks very much
Regards
viswanath
@Viswanath - Thanks very much
Vasanth - 17 May, 2012 - 15:20
Hi Viswanath,
Thanks very much for jumping on this thread and giving us some light on this. I do work in Doddanekundi on ORR and was not aware of it. I would like to avail this facility and experience it first hand and want to share in my company where we have nearly 4,000 employees. Although our company provides transport facility, it lacks the flexibility and hence people tend to drive all the way from one tip of the city to other.
Again, this facility needs more publicity. Most of the people are ready to shell out extra for the flexibility. It will be anyway cheaper than a car travel and safer and comfortable than a bike travel.
Thanks,
Vasanth
@ Viswanath - Why is the
murali772 - 22 May, 2012 - 10:31
@ Viswanath - Why is the BMTC not facilitating the purchase of such passes through the net? Why does anyone have to go to/ contact the Central office/ Majestic in today's world?
ORRCA Volvos- not for public? - Why not KSRTC instead of BMTC?
Vasanth - 24 May, 2012 - 05:45
Sad to know this news Anitha.
One more thought came to my mind was instead of BMTC, why not KSRTC buses should be used. I pass by Shanthinagar Bus Depot everyday on my way from office to home, daily I see so many intercity buses lying idle, probably getting washed / cleaned. Instead of BMTC, if KSRTC can lend out these idle buses to IT companies, city buses could be released back to general public. Anyhow these subcontracted buses do not have any standing, intercity Volvo coaches which run during night times between cities and lying idle in Shanthinagar could be used .
Our office uses coaches (custom built and sometimes old Volvos) itself for ferrying employees. So, why not for Manyata or ORRCA or Cognizant Technologies. Why public city service Volvos?
Sorry for bumping a old
raghunandan85 - 12 September, 2012 - 11:52
Sorry for bumping a old thread. Heres some more information about the chartered services. These are relevant to the Manyata buses, other tech parks might have similar schemes
1) Your company has to talk to BMTC and get itself enrolled in the program.
2) The exclusive premium bus pass costs Rs2500. This is a monthly Vajra pass (usable in normal volvos/buses) + Manyata pass.
3) You cannot use the Manyata buses even if you are ready to pay daily fare or buy a ticket.
4) These exclusive services cover a lot of areas in the city, unlike the regular volvos from Manyata (ply on ORR only).
5) If you have this pass, you are guaranteed a seat in the chartered bus.
The frequency of regular volvos is very poor past 6.30PM and extremely crowded too. At the same time, you can see many chartered volvos running half-empty.
Ragunandan .. This is the problem..
Vasanth - 12 September, 2012 - 13:00
Hi Raghu, as you said frequency of Vajra Volvo is less after 6:30 and even during morning hours causing lot of inconvenience to General Public. This is again mainly due to sub contracting of buses to companies.
BMTC is a Government organization and not a private profit oriented organization. But, BMTC is behaving otherwise.
Let BMTC's sister concern KSRTC's coaches be used for companies since they will be standing idle whole day in Shanthinagar depot after completing it's night journey and BMTC's Vajras be used for General public.
BRTS Double Decker Station on Flyover in Ahmeadabad
Vasanth - 28 July, 2013 - 06:26
Instead of constructing waste TTMCs, can BMTC plan something like this in Agara and save time of public transit users?
Image courtesy : SSC
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