It is high time that all BMTC schedule on Google Transit if the Bus Day has to live uo to its name.

www.google.com/transit

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Here is a media report on how ORRCA is miffed with BMTC. They alleged that BMTC did not keep their promise to fulfill 10 demands. For more read here.

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2010/mar/050310-second-bus-day-huge-success.htm

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Vinod, It seems BMTC has listened to somebody who complained about service to Bagmane Park. Is it Praja? More precisely our 'silkboard' aka pranav who wrote a nice feedback comment after the last Bus Day. In any case, I am glad some change to see even if it is for one day i.e. March 4.

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The shuttle looks more like a new route, my shuttle route suggestion would be

• Clockwise: Old Airport RD/ Suranjandas RD > Domalur Flyover> Junction of 80 Ft/IRR > Indiranagar 80FT Road > OMR > Bagmane Tech Park > Old Airport RD
• Anti-Clockwise: A/Clockwise: Old Airport RD> Bagmane Tech Park OMR > Indiranagar 80FT Road > Indiranagar Police Station > Domalur Flyover > Jn of IRR /80FT Rd > Domalur Flyover > Old Airport RD/ Suranjandas RD.

vinod

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Good development. Interesting that BMTC is covering multiple job areas (Koramangala, Domlur/EGL, Indiranagar 100 ft road, Old Airport Road, Bagmane Tech PArk) with one service. Sounds like a good optimization of multiple requests. Small local loops are preferred, because then, you don't realy need both clockwise and anti-clockwise services. Small loop size will make sure people don't mind extra looping.

For larger loops like this, you need to be careful - sit in clockwise one, or anti-clockwise?

But then, 10 minute frequency is helpful. Just need to get numbering/naming clear, people will get used to it.

Some questions not clear yet are

• Bus Day only, or longer period trial?
• Commuter Time only (morning, evenings), or Full Day?
• 10 minute frequency for each loop? Again, full day, or morning/evening high frequency, rest of day low?

More important questions, some not in BMTC's control

• Will the Bus go over Domlur flyover? How will people change from Airport Road to this 'shuttle'?
• Will Bagmane Tech Park workers have to walk all the way in from Suranjan Das Road?
• Vajra or Pushpak Bus pass okay to use on these?

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Hi All,

  Congratulations to all the people who have made this change happen. I trying my best to popularize public transport in my company. This time the new routes and updated website are indeed a great help. Is there anyway I can download the route and schedule info?

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I am looking forward for middle circle buses suggested here

. From Hosur Road to OMR shuttle will be covered by this route along with good direct connectivity to few localities too.

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TOI report claims that this busday was a greater success than the last one !

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I did see the Bagmane/Indiranagar shuttle in the evening, it was a Marcopolo A/c. Sign said BTP (for Bagmane Tech Park), and route listed was HAL, BEML gate, 80 ft road, Jakasandra, HSR 14th main. Kind of confusing - I too thought it was a Bagmane only bus (like BTP-1, BTP-2 etc are). Shuttles need proper nomenclature. Will put a separate post on the subject.

But yeah, today was not good. Spoke to a few Vajra conductors, they agreed. One of them said don't let company cabs run on Bus Day, that will get the crowds to try for just 1 day every month.

Let us get BMTC to these well ahead of time

1. do event publicity
2. publish new announcements (use these for publicity)
3. update the website (either here on Praja itself, or the new temporary website they just built)

Need some enthu, we can pull this back for next one.

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small mistake on BMTC's part: Volvo 600KC runs to E-city and not Brigade road. Also G-6 runs upto shantinagara and doesnt terminate at Hudson circle.

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Waited at HAl airport signal - 9.10am to 9.25 am, didn't see any thing turning into Suranjan Das road towards Old Madras Road. Perhaps the shuttle service couldn't be started today. Took auto as usual to office.

Did anyone see this shuttle in Koramangala or Indiranagar?

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waited at HAL for few min at 11..no bus/shuttle came for Bagmane..took an auto..

actually it doesnt make money sense for me either travelling by bus! It costed me 57Rs from my place one way and by my car its 60 Rs and cuts 30 min of my travel time!

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15 Rs Bus ticket till HAL, then Rs 40 on Auto (no meter as always) shared with another rider, so Rs 20. 20 + 15 = Rs 35. 14 Km in car would cost about Rs 55 worth of Petrol. So PT was cheaper, thanks to the shared Auto Ride.

Time wise, the cost was 15 extra minutes, can live with it.

Job Centers like Bagmane and EGL have to be forced to run shuttles till nearest Trunk Route bus stops (should be social responsibilty for Builders and large companies), there is no other sustainable way of making the likes of you and me switch from cars (or bikes).

In return for running shuttles, allow them to do build an extra floor or so.

Or, as you see in the numbers above, just figure a way to allow shared autos (Tata Magic like things?), that too may do it.

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 SB,

I caught this auto standing on the HAL bus stand..not from the stand on suranjan das rd..it was a new auto with digital meter and it cost me 25 Rs only!

So maybe u can try getting autos from the HAL main road instead..they shd run meters

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 I waited a lot ( nearly 30 minutes) not to find a 500K today at 11:00 AM. Daily there used to be 500K at 11. Felt sad not to be seen on Busday.

Daily there used to be so many buses atleast to go upto Banashankari from Kattriguppe (201 and 501). Today couldn't even find them. Finally had to take an Auto to Banashankari and then a normal Janti till the office (couldn't get a Volvo).

Spirit of last bus day was not present today unfortunately. No one in bus stops to take feedback.

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The last time around there was buzz and antipication in the air on the Bus day.  Today  it seems to be lacking.  But consolation is there were a few who are sticking to the bus atleast for this one particular day.    The media also seems to have lost interest, this is very typical of Indian Media and public, they want all their stories to be hot, which serve only the present., and forget it the very next day.  If the coming bus days have to be succesful, BMTC and praja needs to find more innovative ways of reaching the public well in advance.  Adding a few more to silkboards suggestion..

1.  Make short shuttle routes unlike  the one done now fo BTP.

2. Use radio for publicity, as a majority of 4-wheeler owners listen to radio while driving.

3.Create special tickets for bus day alone, like stickers , so people who have travelled by bus can show it off proudly.

vinod

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Vinod,

Apart from good publicity and press releases, BMTC needs to establish a relationship with its major stakeholder and the customer, i.e commuters. They can't do things in isolation and expect citizens to support their new plans.

For more public response they need to talk to the public and in turn convey the changes they are ready bring in response to concerns citizens might have. Imagine, BMTC calling a public interaction meet, invite all the companies HRs (who had supported the bus day in their companies), NGOs, general public to communicate their plans for the next Bus Day. BMTC has to provide responses to the feedback that the public has submitted to them since the first Bus Day.

If the things are planned the same way, the Next Bus Day would be much more low key affair. Unless BMTC wakes up and try to build relationship with the public by listening, taking actions on the requests/feedback and executing things for tangible results not for symbolic getsures.

In that note, each one of us is also responsible to bring pressure on BMTC to do the right thing. All it will take is just call BMTC mgmt (Zameer Pasha, Garg, Vishwanath etc). Their contact numbers are available online. We might even try calling the transport secretary and convey our message.

For the start, I am going to call tomorrow to all these gentleman and convey my 2 cents. Last week I did called Mr. Vishwanath and had impressed upon for the local shuttles. Not sure Bagmane shuttle was in response to that.

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I will plan a meeting with BMTC this month. At least 9-10 of us should make it. We will keep the topic to Bus Day. Expected date - week after next (March 15-20).

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I too read the TOI report with interest. The fact that most BMTC conductors I spoke to were aware and kicked about Bus Day bringing them more business was encouraging. Many commuters too knew, even the non-IT types sitting in a black board I took in the evening.

Anyway, it was successful, or it was not, past is past. Lets just meet and brainstorm - get more media in (radio?), get some celebrities in, think of themes if posible. Corridors is one theme we are doing right now, think more like

• Focus on colleges for one Bus Day
• Attention to a select locality for a Bus Day - say, we pamper Banashankari, or Banaswadi area.
• All celebrities take the Bus etc etc - get movie stars, or cricketers for one month
• Ladies Bus Day - special services for one Bus Day

Think think and think,  - pick one theme (like in the list above) for each Bus Day, and we can have some unique publicity done month after month (or else, it will get boring). After all, this is a marketing exercise for Public Transport first, and all else later (though more important - BMTC acting on feedback).

Watch for a meeting invite. I am in town next week (work travel postponed), so at least I am game for the meeting next week itself.

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After travelling to office using trains for the last 3 days, today for change i thought will try using BIAS-6 from Jayamahal to varthur kodi.  I waved my hands and bus did stop.  The conductor said next time "Swalpa mele kai ethee, illandre kannalla". I  was happy to see  the genuine concern shown by conductor for the commuters, he is old man in his 50's, always chattering and helping the airport to city commuters....I have seen this old man many a times on the same bus.... remembering everyones destination and making sure they get down at their destinations, giving them further directions.  Today one commuter was fast asleep, who was supposed get down at MG road.  The conductor woke him from his slumber and  made sure he got down at trinity circle. 

I stuck a long conversation with conductor about the happenings at BMTC,  the bus day, the ISUZU buses on  trial for airport .  The other noticeable thing he did, when the commuters were about to get off, he wrote the BIAS control room number on  the reverse of  their tickets and asked them get in touch for the return journey.  There was sense of purpose and genuiness in what he did... He wrote the numbes on the reverse of my ticket also...and when i was about to get off he requested me to use the bus regularly  "Sir, nimma office yedurgade bus stop ide, dinaalu bus alli banni sar" .   I felt he had made my day. 

For th control room numbers

@ The Airport: 9480815799

@Kadugodi- BIAS-6 : 94808 15796

Vinod

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 nt

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Google transit feed specs are here. We have to see how to get BMTC to gather this data and keep it updated.

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I was at Shivajinagar in the morning (around 1000 hrs) and then again in the evening (around 1700). The bus stand seemed more crowded than usual, both in terms of commuters as well as buses.

In the evening, I was waiting at BEML Gate for a friend from 1815-1845 approx. At 1815, a 201R proceeded towards CV Raman Nagar. A number of passengers alighted from the bus (which was quite full) and a few boarded as well - despite there being just 4 stops more to go. I have seen in the past that this bus seems to get plenty of short-distancers due to the low fares - despite connecting two IT areas it is not classified as an IT route. A few minutes later, another 201R passed in the opposite direction and boy, was it jam-packed! Several standees and despite this a few people boarded at BEML gate.

Then, the surprise: around 1840, the special BusDay shuttle: a MarcoPolo with "BTP" on the board and a number of destinations including HSR scrolling below. Like Pranav, I too mistook it at first to be a Bagmane shuttle. Unlike the 201R which had passed by just minutes earlier, this was practically empty with barely half a dozen folks on board.

My trips to and from Shivajinagar were quite good - I took 331A which seemed to be in greater frequency than usual and seemingly rightly so, given the number of commuters - my bus was full both ways. Several apparent newbies were seen asking the conductor for schedules. Hopefully they have been converted :-)

Overall, it was a nice experience, except for the shuttles which seem to need better coordination. Was their situation similar throughout the day?

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SB_YPR:  201R is always full because it's the only bus that spans through several areas at low cost for a volvo. They have marcopolos also on this route, which goes full. The busday special may have been empty because of lack of awareness.

Referring to Vinod's observations, I have also noticed volvo conductors helping commuters - I usually get off at HAL Kalyanmantapa but on 2nd (two days before bus day), I wanted to alight near borewell since I had parked near there instead of my usual parking spot at HAL.

The (lady) conductor on 335E remembered & prompted me well in time before the stop !   This was probably because I had made enquiries as to where exactly the stop was when the ticket was being issued.

Such gestures really help build up clientale since they increase confidence levels amongst people wishing to try buses as an option such as myself :)

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I took BIAS 7A to return home. Contrary to what was mentioned in the bmtc website, the conductor said that vajra passes are not allowed in airport buses.

At taj(near trinity circle) bus stop the driver did not pulled over to the bus stop and I saw two bmtc offcials wearing bus day caps stopping the bus and taking the driver to task for not stopping at the bus stop. I also spoke to the officals about the vajra pass not being allowed in air port buses and one of the officials, a lady, said may be the order is not passed yet but bmtc is thinking about allowing passes till hebbal. She took down my number and said that she will call me back!

Last bus day  a few people travelled by bus, but this bus day, though I sent remiders none travelled by bus. The reasons I think have been discussed to death at praja and I don't think I have to write about them again.

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Even i asked the BIAS-6 conductor today whether Vajra passes(1250/-) are allowed for travel in BIAS upto hebbal, even he said its not allowed.  Need a proper clarification from BMTC on the same.    If Vajra passes are allowed in  BIAS buses, it will be a boon to many like me, where we can use a single bus for long distance travel to n fro everyday.  BMTC bus day website says its allowed.

See below extract from the BMTC bus day site...

"

Did you know?

Such changes/offers/incentives should be made clear well in advance, so that the stakeholder can derive the full benefits of such schemes.  One other benefit of this scheme might be, it will act as pilot for certain routes, later  full fledged Vajras service can introduce on these routes if found viable.

vinod

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Refer to this snippet at the end of the Mid Day report

"An employee of an IT firm in ECO SPACE, Sarjapur ORR said, "One of the demands was to have buses inside our campus. Though BMTC officials assured to address them, the day ended with not even a single bus entering the campus. How can we make Bus Day a success with such a response from BMTC?"

1) Few things about above complaint

• If one of the demand is getting BMTC buses inside the compay campus'es, that is a bit unrealistic. Even I don't expect them to come right till my office building in the huge Bagmane Tech Park. Come to the nearest public bus stand (which is near the lake), and from that point on, it should be Bagmane Tech Park's job to ferry people to buildings (which they do, they run a free shuttle from Tech Park gate to office buildings)
• Like wise, just as another example, for Global Village Campus (2 km off from Mysore Road), BMTC may run shuttles just for Bus Day, but over long term, either GVC should pay BMTC to make the service viable, of GVC itself should run shuttles. BMTC's job is to ensure good coverage for public bus stands close to Job Areas

2) Now, there is one more lesson from the fact that IT park commuters felt the 2nd Bus Day wasn't as successful as first one, while rest of the city felt opposite

• Need focus for Bus day in terms of target audience segmentation. IT corridor commuters are a different segment. We can again get into debates like why should there be different segments of customers for BMTC etc. But the fact is that BMTC has taken a multi-tier service approach, and focusing on multple segments (the lowest income segment - Atal Saarige and similar, regular services, and Vajra) in one Bus Day is not a good idea, we will struggle to stretch that much for just one day.

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SB,
I agree with you on BMTC's futile attempt for multiple corridors in one Bus day. I would suggest that BMTC should first concentrate on the 2 selected corridors from the 1st Bus day and do all they can for this corridor first - Adjust the timings, increase frequency,  introduce new route/shuttle service, last mile connectivity, fill all gaps and address all the feedback given.

Once all these have been addressed, BMTC can move to next 2 corridors and repeat the same template. All the new things BMTC introduces on Bus Day should continue on regular basis. Otherwise it makes no sense to do it for one day.

We all understand that the operational, infrastructure implementation takes time and capacity building is a gradual process. Public easily appreciates the changes as long as the trend continues and keeps building up.

I would suggest that PRAJA members take this issue in the upcoming meeting with BMTC.

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SB - Very correct. The other day, someone was mentioning that BMTC buses do not go into Wipro campus on Sarjapur rd, which means he would have to walk some 400 mtrs from the bus stop on Sarjapur rd, & if buses go in, he would start using them. Until then, he prefers his car.

How can public buses be expected to operate on private property ? It will be seen as a bias, unless the facility is within public areas, such as main streets in electronic city or peenya.

BMTC, providing differentiated services to all sections of society, cannot concentrate busday efforts only on one section or one area, even if it means that efforts might be spread too thin. After all, events like busday are for marketing bus travel in preference to private travel for the city as a whole, which means all segments & all areas.

The IT areas had their share with the first busday & too many other areas that need attention remain. Thus, the modus operandi being followed by BMTC is correct, in my opinion, & results are there to be seen.

Concentrating only on IT areas will again be seen as biased efforts for one section alone, & BMTC has taken steps to thwart such criticism early on.

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Naveen, more than reaching all, point is more about focus. Select 1-2 corridors, and one target segment for each Bus Day. This way, with the location and segment in mind, we can clearly plan changes and experiments.

Not that this should be over-done, but higher focus on white collar job area corridors can be defended by the fact that converting these folks will have the maximum impact on road congestion.

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higher focus on white collar job area corridors can be defended by the fact that converting these folks will have the maximum impact on road congestion

SB - I agree, this is quite true.

However, our citizens have funny ways of reading things. We saw how & where all the volvo bus debate went. Instead of welcoming a comfortable alternative for commuters, particularly in hot summer months, there were so many allegations of bias, unjustifiable high costs, subsidies, favoritism, & even untouchability - & this was from many who were already volvo bus users themselves.

I was referring to the potential for these sort of allegations surfacing if busdays were held only for some select corridors, such as the IT corridors. In this respect, BMTC has acted early to protect themselves from such criticism.

Graduating from busdays, I think BMTC could do much better if they improve on promotional efforts & spread of information - there is a clear consensus on this. How about ads in the print media before each busday, identifying routes /areas ?

I have been using KSRTC's webpage, & to me it has been a really great experience - I have booked tickets so many times now (BTW, their webpage has won an award recently).

Similarly, BMTC must concentrate much more & publish route information & search features for buses on the web as also circulate such info through various means such as printed material.

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The main problem here is lack of publicity of not only about bus day but also the lack of information on bus routes. Eg: There are many people who still dont know a bus route between BTM and ITPL/Electronic city,Banashankari and Vijayanagar etc which are one of the major areas covered by BMTC. Heard this from some of them.

Previously BMTC was concentrating a lot on the central bus stands. Now looks like Ring road routes are getting the most attention. Feeder routes are also operated but who has given publicity about them?A feeder route between kanakapura road and Bannerghatta road went unnoticed as nobody knew about it. Similar was route No. 374E and 374F operated clockwise/anticlockwise from Rajarajeshwarinagar via jayanagar and banashankari.

Also one more main thing is the high fares over the short distances and continous hike in the fares over the period. On meeting with BMTC this is one more matter that needs to be discussed. Not only car users even 2 wheeler users must be attracted. Volvo fares have come dopwn but ordinary fares are quite high. Travelling in group of three to jayanagar a bus costs me Rs.21/- against Rs.24/- by auto. Why will i wait?

high frequency is not a concern. Timings too matter. 1E running between JP nagar 6th phase and yeshvantapur has a good crowd in the 9:15AM trip for it goes to vidhana soudha and the bus is quite punctual in this trip. similar is the 60C leaving JP nagar at 9:30AM to Chandra layout and 29 to shivajinagar which leaves at 9AM and 9:30AM. But in teh later pasrt of teh day traffic increases,snarls occur,schedules scatter,people change instead of waiting. Now this is something BMTC and BBMP must together sort out and a long term planning must be done.

BMTC has done a good job of installing display boards at some bus stops providing accurate arrival departure timings. At present the same is displaying Vayu vajra and certain volvo routes only. This must be extended to all the buses so that people will know teh arrival time of buses and how long they might have to wait.

If all these things are done properly then we can succeed a bit more on the bus days with regard to the comments posted by many more people above.

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