Tight deadlines with heavy schedules

Tight deadlines with heavy schedules
Deccan Herald

Shivajinagar to Banasawadi in 45 minutes, Shivajinagar to ITPL in one hour five minutes; Shivajinagar to ISRO Layout in 45 minutes. This is the sort of tight deadlines allotted to Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) drivers to cover their schedules.

Shivajinagar to Banasawadi in 45 minutes, Shivajinagar to ITPL in one hour five minutes; Shivajinagar to ISRO Layout in 45 minutes.

This is the sort of tight deadlines allotted to Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) drivers to cover their schedules. Given the heavy traffic density and the various bottlenecks in the City, BMTC drivers rue that it is impossible to cover the schedules in the allotted time frame. These deadlines are outdated and are at least 15 years old, they say.

A blind eye


BMTC has even turned a blind eye to the recommendation of the Bangalore City Traffic Police that the deadlines should be set on a scientific basis taking into account the present traffic density and congestion.

“We had submitted the report a year back. We had pointed out that these tight deadlines put a lot of pressure on the drivers.

However, there has been no response from the BMTC,” DCP Traffic (West) M A Saleem said. The report had also recommended that BMTC should not allot bus drivers the duties of the conductors, as introduced in some services.

Maddening traffic

“The traffic is maddening. It is impossible to meet the deadlines during peak hours. For instance, according to the BMTC time-table we have to ply 12 times between K R Puram and Shivajinagar per shift. We can hardly manage 10 schedules but our salaries are cut for no fault of ours,” says driver Rakesh.

“The allotted time to cover the route between Shivajinagar and Jayanagar is 40 minutes. Earlier, we used to take the route from Shivajinagar to Double Road via Richmond Circle.

Now, with traffic restrictions, we have to take a longer route via V V Towers, Brigade Road, Johnson Market, to Richmond Road. It takes 40 minutes to reach Double Road taking this route. How can we meet the deadline?”, asks Nagegowda, a conductor. BMTC officials were not available for comments.