Bus, naturally

Bus, naturally
The city gets new, upscale public transport. BT hops on the Volvo bus
The Times of India

FEEDBACK forms, smart new white uniforms with caps, a radio channel, blue chairs, yellow handholds, reverse cameras, door cameras, mechanisms that make the bus “kneel” so the elderly climb in, or suck its tummy in (!) over speed breakers, the red Volvo bus has pulled out all stops to attract commuters.

It’s 8.30 am, and the gleaming red Volvo bus stands apart in the clamour at the Kempe Gowda bus stand.
There’s curiosity. People outside gawp. Students hop in, check it out, hop off. There are expectations. A lady climbs in, excited: “This bus goes fast, right?” The conductor, Ram Nayak, gives you a ticket; when you give him the exact amount, he says “Thank you”!

The bus takes off, smoothly wending its way around Anand Rao circle, past Maharani’s College, and stops at the signals. So far, so good. The sounds outside come in, but subdued. The mild morning sun is milder through the huge glass windows, tempered by the AC.

Seconds later, the bus suddenly slows down. Full stop. “I thought the bus would go fast,” says the lady, disappointed. There’s a huddle of men in the front, at a laptop. The bus starts: the men are engineers from Delhi testing data on its motion. Next stops, Corporation, Shantinagar depot. A man jumps in, cigarette butt in hand. “Throw it out,” says Nayak. “This is an AC bus.”

The conductor hands around feedback forms. Peak hour traffic takes over. The bus drones up the Dairy Circle flyover. Traffic’s bad. Takes nearly 10 minutes to reach St John’s. Up the Hosur Road flyover. And you get a splendid view: of the sea of traffic on Hosur Road ahead, crawling for more than a km. The bus joins the crawl. The honeymoon is over. It’s 9.15 am. For the next 45 minutes, it’s bumper-to-bumper traffic, helpless, nudging along, snail-pace, past Singasandra, Pantharapalya, Konena Agrahara.

Ram Nayak walks over, and turns the AC high. He’s been on the route for a week. “I feel a new man in the new uniform on this bus,” he says. “The people on this route are nice, so you are polite too.”

But traffic? “The route time is 70 minutes, but we take more. Evenings are bad. Sometimes, it takes us two hours or more.”

It’s 10 am. The bus turns into Electronic City. Ajay Ranjan, a techie prepares to get off. Would he take the bus again? “If it maintains time, yes.” He pays Rs 1,100 per month for transport: Rs 50 per day for 22 working days. It’d be the same with the Volvo. “And it’s AC. I’d do it. The traffic’s bad for all vehicles, so it’s OK.”

Techies are getting off buses. Two of them walk over to the Volvo to check out timings. Vivek RS travels from Rajajinagar. He’s been on the Volvo once. “My bus starts at 6.45 am. If the Volvo starts at 8.30, I’ll use it.” Friend Aditya S agrees. “The main aim is to decongest roads. I’ll take it too.”

The key word is time. With dedicated lanes, it can be done, is the opinion. Else, it can come a cropper.