Though I was tempted to say "made me more aware, that's it", I did get new routes in my area, 314AA which I used a few times for my commute, and two shuttles in whitefield (WFS, WFS-2). 3 new routes that I do use. So there goes my vote.

Bus Day idea is good.  But when the buses are not available what is the use.

Even in important routes bus frequency is either less or not available.

BMTC has to do away with routes which are having frequencies of twice or thrice or four times a day or once in 1 hour or 2 hours.

BMTC has to abort the plans of re-routing to increase the revenue which inturn increases the travel time.

Much publicised Volvo buses in some routes are totally useless (for example no one knows when exactly route no. 195 arrives and departs from KBS.  Even BMTC staff themselves inform the passengers that only one bus runs in this route and it is better to use alternate buses which in turn start from other platform)

Same thing can be said about 500K, 500KB, 600K (These are available from VJN only in the morning excluding on Saturday and Sunday.  During other time and other days, no one knows when exactly these buses are operated.  Reverse direction operation is much worse)

Frequency is much misunderstood for reliability. If I know a schedule and the bus keeps up that schedule with a small margin of delay then I can plan my travel accordingly. In the absence of this reliability I look for a surplus of buses arriving randomly so I can expect to catch one within a few minutes of arriving there unplanned.

Worldwide, trunk routes are more frequent as they expect the feeders to arrive at different times, while the feeders are scheduled. Even if it is once every hour it should be there in + or - 5 mins and the time table should published. Feeders have lesser chances of missing the schedule as they cover less ares and hence face less jams.

If the network was clean with trunk & feeders clearly identified, the strategies & communication can be reasonably adjusted. Now with services all over the place criss crossing everywhere and also not having a time table, it is reasonable for people to ask for frequency everywhere. If BMTC obliges they will introduce massive inefficiencies and since they dont have timetable & cant keep up to it even if it existed, they suck at the service.

I go to a bus stop today completely blind sided as to when I may or may not get a bus and to which location. It will only be by practice that one understands the service. So the casual traveler is put off and hence chances of converting him to a frequent traveller is lost.

Exactly my points.

I had written to BMTC for a few new routes/route changes. And so far, I would say that BMTC has been responsive to a great extend.

I asked for a volvo introduced from KRPuram (Old Madras Road) to ITPL through Hoodi. They introduced a 319C marcopolo.

I asked for a bus which connects the whitefield road and the Sap Signal through a road which was in usable condition, but did not have BMTC buses running so far. Thay took care of that by the routing of 504E&F. On one end, these routes were introduced to take care of the Suranjandas road area, But on the other end, it connects two stretches which were not connected by BMTC earlier.

Both these buses could be great boons which would have increased the comfort of my travel. But for the frequency. 319C runs at a frequency of 30 min during peak hours, and 504E&F at a frequency of 1hr (I guess). The variance in the time of arrival is abt 30-45 minutes! Which renders it useless for me.

So, I wrote to BMTC again. This is what I wrote

Hi,

Thanks for introducing the 319C marcopolo on the old madras road, till ITPL.

I have been using this bus from ESI stop to KRPuram for some time now. 

1) This is my observation of the schedule. In the evenings, i used to get the bus towards krpuram at around 5.50 at the ESI stop. The conductor says it starts form ITPL at 5.30 and reaches ESI b/w 5.40 to 5.50 depending on the traffic. But, last few days , the 5.50 bus didnt come till abt 6.10. After that, I quit waiting, and took an ordinary bus to KRPURAM. I guess when the bus runs infrequently, it is important to run it on schedule. 

2) In the morning, the first 319C  reaches ITPL around 9.20. I guess it is too late for most IT companies here, which start operations at 8.00AM. In fact, the TCS, tata elxsi, ABB, etc on this road has strict start timing of 8.00AM. so, unless the first bus reaches there around that time, it is not quite useful!

3) It would be great if you can post a printout inside the bus, showing approximate times at diff stops.. It can be very approximate, and even if the bus is delayed by 15 minutes, it is ok. But, it will allow people to plan their day!!

I have always got good response from the BMTC customer care. I hope that it will continue. Hoping that you would look into my suggestions.

Thanks a lot,

Anitha

And here is the reply I got.

Dear Madam,

Wonder if my mail was a little too lengthy to read.

Have anybody come across this notice?

I tried switching on the bluetooth on my phone, and didnt receive any message.. Wondering if they use it only on bus days, or if the signal is strong only in some parts of the bus!

BMTC Did not re-introduce the most popular YI tracking service as part of any bus day nor any website based tracking.

Sub-Contracting Volvos to Companies is another bad move. It is good for revenue of BMTC and the company employees who enjoy Volvos, but on other hand, it will take away buses from normal services, reducing frequency , putting passengers in trouble just like our old Pushpak service. Let a private company purchase Volvos / Benz or any other luxury buses in a big way and sub-contract them to companies.

As Kumarvjn told above, frequency of some routes are highly unreliable. We never know when to wait for bus. We have plenty of 500C  running throught the day  between ITPL and Banashankari and less 500K which runs from Vijaynagar to ITPL via Banashankari using same route as 500C from Banashankari. In other words 500K is  a superset of 500C. Most of the 500Cs are empty hunting for passengers, whereas 500K passengers have to wait long and catch up crowded 500K. 500Ks exist only upto morning 11AM that too at random times.  I wrote to CTMO BMTC, but there is no proper action taken.   These kind of gaps between Passenger and BMTC needs to be taken up by BMTC during one BusDay and fix it within next Bus Day. 

Most of the buses of all types hunt for the passengers wasting lots of time of existing passengers sitting in the bus. People do not want to waste a single second and rage on the road to reach destination ASAP. If their time is wasted by inefficient drivers and conductors hunting for passengers, people will stop taking up buses. This has to be strictly taken up by BMTC.

I see many times more than two 500C on the same signal, and I wonder, how badly the frequencies are thought and decided. Whatever the situation and whatever the delay, how can you see three 500C on the same signal, that too trying to overtake each other, doesn't that show some problem in the basics?

Deepak

I know that there are 60As from 9th block to Vijayanagar.  I want to avoid them because of highly unpredictable traffic between Sirsi Circle and Deepanjali Nagar Signal.

Couple of times, I tried to catch 500K, 500KB(whether still operates, I don't know) 500x (I have forotten the value of 'x' and off late I have not seen any buses other than 500K) and 600K.

Even after waiting for 45 minutes to 1 hours, buses never turn up.  The situation is worsens after 12:30AM and till 3:30PM.  In the mean time, many of buses will be running upto Banashankari (most of them are 500C and empty) and some more buses till Depot 13 (they are also empty).  After seeing this number of times, I have decided that there are no buses from Ragigudda to Vijayanagar side between 11:30 AM to 3:30 PM.  At times one or two buses come from Jeevan Bhima Nagar to Hampi Nagar (201G or something) which are mostly crowded and badly maintained buses.

Service from Vijayanagar during the same period is also highly unpredictable or non-existent.

Saturday, Sunday these buses take nice holidays.

Hence BMTC can announce nicely that these buses are available from VJN only in the morning and toward VJN during evening upto 7:00 PM only

On 12th, from 10:10 AM to 11:00 AM there was not even single bus towards ringroad from VJN barring one overcrowded Jalahalli Cross to Silkboard bus.

Then I went Majestic and from there took one more bus to reach Silkboard.

So many people are dependent on 500K, still BMTC operating more and more empty 500Cs. Infact 500Ks turn out as 500C after 11 AM. I know a driver and conductor of 500K since regularly I was taking 500K at a particular time as both of them were efficient and not wasting time in Bus Stops unlike other drivers and conductors. I was surprised to see them in 500C at 11:30 AM or so. When I asked, they said, all the 500Ks barring 2/3 are converted to 500C till evening.

I wrote to CTMO about the same, but no significant change.

Bus Days should be meant for addressing the problems of existing commuters along with attracting new passengers. It is crazy to promote usage of buses on Bus Day and say that air pollution got reduced, traffic got reduced etc. Goal should be to add  new services / modify and rectify existing services which is consistent and persistent, just not the Bus Day.

To be frank, I don't see any change in traffic on BusDays on ORR as projected to media.

Read this - 

AC buses making losses, but BMTC plans to buy 200 more

In contrast, the corporation last year acquired just 50 of the much-needed ordinary buses, way lower than its target of 1,000 such vehicles

I don't know what to say?

I would say, yes its good to introduce more buses, I think we need more buses because present buses are overcrowded, but increasing the buses is the only solution, I dont' think so, Shouldn't they first look at the infrastructure, reliability, timings, frequency, route-demand etc first and make these buying decision after that?

Again these new buses will be bought and people in the process will eat money and then what wil happen. a lot of buses will run empty on some routes and lot of buses go overcrowded on some routes, all with no specific timing or frequency.

@Bheema, did you get any of your complain's reply yet or not? If not, I think its time to see we should write one or more complaint or letter to MD, BMTC or file an RTI, if they are not giving any response.

Deepak

Read this - 

Techie boards BMTC Volvo but realises he forgot his wallet; ‘well-trained’ conductor abuses him roundly

This is another example, as in this news article, its been said many times - "no point in shifting to public transport if this is the kind of treatment one gets from the crew".

There are many such points, which make the buses or any such public transport not-so-attractive option, and hence people take private vehicles. They know they are going to stuck in traffic for hours and they are bound to get irritated by clutches-and-brakes, but still they find it less painful than board those un-timed, over-crowded buses and reaching home using those errant auto-wallas (who doesn't want to take you anywhere).

Deepak