1,000 more BMTC buses will crowd city roads

1,000 more BMTC buses will crowd city roads
New Indian Express

BANGALORE; When Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is finished with adding 1000 more buses in phases to its existing fleet of 3,200, two-wheelers and smaller vehicles may very well be chased off the roads.

Despite BMTC operating 3,200 schedules covering 45,000 trips, completing around seven-lakh service km each day, the system is still inadequate to meet the 30-lakh daily commuters’ demand. So, BMTC is adding 800 more buses to its fleet to increase capacity.

As the bus population in the city increases, they will hog more space on the roads than other vehicles. It is estimated that BMTC buses need 15 per cent of the road space for themselves. But this figure is only for buses plying on roads with dedicated bus lanes.

The reality is that BMTC buses today occupy almost three times the above mentioned road space as a result of the increase in their numbers and frequency. Consequently, two-wheelers and smaller vehicles like autorickshaws will be forced out of city roads.

Moreover, with more buses and greater frequency, BMTC may even become the preferred mode of intra-city transport and due to this, the Corporation hopes it can convert the 12-lakh strong two-wheeler riders into its own commuters.

‘‘With 4,200 city buses all on Bangalore’s narrow roads at the same time, two-wheeler riders will find it next to impossible to navigate traffic. They may well choose to leave their bikes at home and take a bus to work,’’ said a BMTC official.

Bangalore with its 12-lakh two-wheeler population - the highest in the country - is probably the most congested city. Addition of buses and the attendant eviction of reduction of two-wheeler traffic should be seen as a healthy development in a growing metropolis.

There are many tangible benefits in such a development. Reduction in congestion, accidents, air pollution, travel time, travel cost and fuel consumption.

This trend is highly visible in other metros like Mumbai and Chennai where people rely more on public transport like city buses and metro rail and less on their own wheels.

In these cities, two-wheelers are used more as part of a park-and-ride system wherein the commuter uses the vehicle to get to the metro rail station, parks it and takes the rail from there.