More air passengers prefer the Vayu Vajra

More air passengers prefer the Vayu Vajra

Anil Kumar Sastry

Booking can be done through www.viaworld.in

BMTC has earned Rs. 1.44 crore from the service

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Good response: Nearly 250 people travel in a day on Vayu Vajra service by making advance reservation.

BANGALORE: With the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation’s Bangalore International Airport Special (BIAS) gaining popularity, more and more people are availing themselves of the service by booking their seats in advance.

Since May 24, when the new airport as well as BIAS (Vayu Vajra) service became operational, more than 5,500 people have made use of the reservation facility by booking through www.viaworld.in. The corporation has also realised revenue of nearly Rs. 7 lakh through advance reservation alone during this period.

Besides advance reservation, BMTC’s pick-up and drop facilities in association with private taxi operators too has been getting good response. While nearly 550 people utilised the pick-up facility, over 250 passengers have availed themselves of the drop facility till Monday.
Occupancy

The average occupancy in Vayu Vajra services, which was just 20 per cent when the service started on May 24, has reached nearly 30 per cent within three weeks. While nearly 23,000 seats are available on 730 trips of Vayu Vajra services in a span of 24 hours, the average occupancy has been more than 6,200 seats.
Revenue

On Monday, BMTC recorded the highest ever revenue from Vayu Vajra services by collecting Rs. 8.89 lakh and from Suvarna (non-airconditioned) Rs. 1.6 lakh. From May 24 to June 16, the corporation earned Rs. 1.44 crore from Vayu Vajra and Rs. 24 lakh from the Suvarna services.

However, the corporation is yet to achieve break even, according to its Chief Traffic Manager Dastagir Sharieff. While the cost per kilometre for operation of Vayu Vajra comes to Rs. 48, the earning per km has been Rs. 38, he said. As the service was not introduced for profit-making but to decongest the airport roads of private vehicles, the BMTC is hopeful of achieving the break even in near future, he said.
New buses

Having started BIAS with 39 new specially designed Volvo buses, BMTC has recently added nine more buses to the fleet taking the fleet strength to 47.

Further, the corporation has decided to operate only Volvo services from Kempe Gowda Bus Station (BIAS 9) as hardly any passenger boarded the Suvarna services, Mr. Sharief said. While the BMTC has been providing services at a frequency of at least one hour in all other eight routes, the frequency from KBS (Majestic) has been more as large number of passengers have been making use of this point to travel to and from the airport.
Difficult condition

Mr. Sharief said BMTC staff posted at the airport have been working under difficult conditions. With all essential commodities such as water, coffee and snacks exorbitantly priced, the corporation has been making its own arrangements for drinking water, snacks and other needs of the crew posted at the airport. “Even we have to arrange the sweeping of the bus shelter area at the BIA,” Mr. Sharief said.

On the other hand, the BMTC is paying attractive allowance to the crew and staff posted at the BIA. The allowance ranges from Rs. 80 to Rs. 120 a day, he added.