Pupils, teachers, senior citizens and other passengers, want more buses on the Kumbalgodu, Devagere, Nallakhamba and Gollahalli routes.
Students, school and college teachers, and senior citizens want the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) to run buses on routes of 212, 226 and 228 more frequently.
These routes all start from K.R. Market and they have stops in Nallakhamba, Devegere and Kumbalgodu. The buses come in intervals of 20-30 minutes. Due to less frequency of buses, passengers are compelled to stand at bus-stops for more than 20-25 minutes and this makes the bus overcrowded.
Chandrappa, a senior citizen of Devagere said, “I often go to Kumbalgodu and Kengeri. But the bus 228G either always comes late or in very less frequencies. I have to spend more time waiting rather than travelling; the journey to Kengeri which usually takes 20 minutes, becomes 40 minutes because of the wait.”
Chandrappa added that it gets more inconvenient when school children from nearby schools also have to catch the same bus. Many times he doesn’t get place to sit and has to stand for the whole journey.
Vaibhav, who studies in class nine of a private school said, “I take bus route 226R. Our school gets over by 4:30 pm and all students are in hurry but most times, the bus comes late.”
Vaibhav added that as the bus reaches Nallakhamba, either it is already overcrowded or the students who are approximately 20 in numbers hardly get seats. And because of this reason they have to catch the next bus which takes 20 minutes more.
Vaibhav also said that, there are no covered bus stops, which becomes a problem during the rainy season.He said he has to book an auto from Nallakhamba with his friends, which burns a hole in their pockets.
Girish, Junior Assistant Public Relations Officers (PRO), BMTC said, “BMTC is planning to procure more buses and very soon we are thinking to increase the frequency in required routes.”
Girish also said that BMTC is trying to make people’s bus journey as convenient as they can. They are also planning to increase the trips of buses on bus routes of 212, 226 and 228 series. With increasing population on the outskirts of Bangalore, BMTC is committed to launch electric buses too, along with existing buses in the next few months.
Vivek Pai, urban and metropolitan public transport expert, Sustainancy Consultants, Bangalore said, “Most public transport firms in India think that they are doing charity. It’s true that BMTC’s network is huge and so is its operation. But the problem lies in the planning, budgetary allocations, revenues, maintenances of buses, red tapism, political interferences and huge practice of corruption.”
Mr. Pai added that, another reason for not increasing the frequencies of the buses lies with the public too. People should know the protocols of complaints and grievances and the the media, too should put pressure on BMTC to redress the issues.
Mr. Pai also said that it could be possible that BMTC is waiting for the response of the people from newly opened Challaghatta metro station. After seeing the number of commuters there, the demand for buses could also increase.
