Since the request for meeting has (perhaps) only generated a press statement from BMTC regarding a long running BRTS project on a corridor (Outer Ring Road) which is anyway going to be a fast and wide road aka expressway, I have sent in this note of disappointment today:

Dear Mr Pasha,

We are disappointed to receive no response from you to this request for a meeting as well a some information regarding this advocacy project. We want to help BMTC by building up public support for designs and systems to provide priority to BMTC buses on roads of Bangalore. We do not see a point in moving forward without BMTC's support, or at a minimum, and understanding of the goals of this project.

regards,
Pranav

• favorite 84 Likes
• | login or register to post comments

Hi Pranav,

I guess it is next to impossible to get a response from these officials.

I assume you have sent a hard copy of the letter.I hope it has atleast been read.

I have tried to e-mail many of the government officials and most the times their mailboxes are full and it bounces back.Just wonder why so much money is being spent on the maintainence of an e-mail system when no one uses it.........??????

Even if they read it NO ONE CARES TO RESPOND OR REPLY........because THEY DON'T HAVE TO............!!!!!!!

• favorite 81 Likes
• | login or register to post comments

Have to be fair and say that BMTC is better. They do listen and respond. We (praja folks who interact with BMTC) either get an email reply, or response of some sort from BMTC. Got some data (G1 ridership) from BMTC yesterday. Waiting on a confirmation for a meeting on the subject of BRTS/BPS.

And another point. most government offices DO NOT spend ANY money on maintenance of email systems. Notice that they use gmail or yahoo mail most of the times. In fact, those who have spent some money to get official email id (not gmail etc) are in worse state (mailbox full, or email account bouncing etc) because they don't have expertise to manage what some IT vendor would have installed and then walked away. Govt offices who use services from NIC seem to be better off. But anyway, IT inside govt is a long story, save it for a separate discussion.

Net net, They need help to make better use of technology to interact with people. Those who want to interact with people (BBMP and property tax system, an example) using technology, can do it. Watch for BESCOM, they will get it right within an year :)

• favorite 74 Likes
• | login or register to post comments

What i was referring to was my personal experience of sending emails to id's having domains  bbmp.gov.in  and  ksp.gov.in .....other people may have been luckier than me.

I am in total agreement that some use the technology very well an perfect example that i have experienced has been the Passport Seva Kendra.

Regards,

Imran.

• favorite 76 Likes
• | login or register to post comments

Our job is to keep trying. Perhaps they are busy or have good reasons to not lend support for the project. Have sent in another email request.

Dear Mr Pasha, Mr Vishwanath,

If a meeting on the subject is hard to schedule right now, would you be able to share detailed ridership data on G1/335 route so that we can start doing some traffic and demand density analysis. We have reached out to Traffic Police as well to collect data on the 16 key junctions that we would analyze for speeding up the buses. We also have details on G1 corridor from BBMP.

Your support is crucial for us to help with a technical proposal to push for BRTS or Bus Priority in Bangalore. Please do help us out, we are doing this for BMTC only!

regards,
Pranav, on behalf of Praja.

• favorite 77 Likes
• | login or register to post comments