What a squeeze! We are in a BMTC bus…

What a squeeze! We are in a BMTC bus…

Anil Kumar Sastry

Answer quick: will you take that bus to work every day if you take home a fat paycheck? No? Sigh… we knew you’d say that

— Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

DANGEROUS JOURNEY: A file picture of an overcrowded BMTC bus.

BANGALORE: Jam-packed buses during peak hours and unreliable services are the hallmark of Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) that has been mandated to provide adequate, efficient and reliable public transport system for the city.

Any metropolis, if it has to avoid chaos and air pollution, has to have an efficient public transport system. Sadly, Bangalore has been putting off that happy state of affairs for decades. Over 22 lakh two-wheelers and over five lakh cars on our roads speak volumes about the inefficient and insufficient public transport being offered by the BMTC. Besides a boom in the economic and automobile sectors, an unreliable and insufficient bus service has forced the public rely on privatised modes of transport.
No change

For K.S. Narasimha Murthy, an accountant who has been using BMTC services for over two decades, the creation of BMTC after bifurcation of KSRTC in 1997 has not brought in sweeping changes. Barring the change in colour of buses from red to a combination of blue and white and deployment of new buses, the quality and quotient of service has not improved much, he said.

“It is as horrible as in 1997 to travel by buses during peak hours in 2007 too,” he said and added that BMTC had failed to match the growth of the city and its population.

Another regular user, L.S. Ajith, a government employee, complained that the fares were too high. “I can understand increase to match increase in fuel prices and spare parts cost. But I don’t understand why I have to pay Rs. 5 for just two km. ” He complained that BMTC was only after profits and was happy to run its buses packed to earn that extra rupee.

The bus crew do not earn any brownie points either. “Although the drivers appear to be disciplined in their behaviour towards commuters, they are undisciplined on the road,” said H.S. Vishwanath, a software engineer.

They not only park their gigantic vehicles haphazardly but also jam the traffic by overtaking other buses at roadside bus stops, he said.

Mr. Vishwanath, who alternates between his car and the office cab, said: “I would love to take a BMTC bus if I can comfortably reach my destination within a reasonable time. But if I take one, I would reach the office with crumpled clothes,” he said.

A major complaint against BMTC is been skipping of trips by the crew. If a bus on a particular route is supposed to make 20 trips a day, the crew misses at least five, putting commuters to hardship. “We can understand if the crew skips one or two trips because of traffic congestion. But skipping five, often the last trip, is unfortunate,” Mr. Ajith said.

Although BMTC had introduced global positioning system (GPS) to track movement of buses some time ago, it failed to bring all the buses under GPS net thereby allowing the crew to operate at their will.

Mr. Murthy was critical about the “inaction” of the management in checking pilferage by conductors. “Although almost a quarter of commuters travel using passes, it is not the reason to decelerate line-checking,” he said.

Conductors continue to pocket that small sum from short-distance travellers without issuing tickets. Commuters’ covert support to this menace was to be blamed, Mr. Murthy said.

But not all commuters complain. Sebastian, a small businessman who had been patronising the service for the last three decades, said the corporation had done good work within the available resources. The number of buses had gone up considerably and the frequency of services had increased, he added.