There is also a decrease in the number of schedules operated.
The number of staff in the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has seen a decrease since the past few years. According to data from BMTC website, the number of staff as on Sept. 09, 2023 is 28,894 as against 34,114 staff in 2017-18.
Channappa, a BMTC driver said that there is a shortage of drivers in BMTC. He added that the corporation hires private drivers to address the issue of staff shortage. “Sometimes, we are required to work overtime to complete the schedules. However, we get paid for the overtime duty,” he said.
The number of schedules operated has also decreased over the years. Additionally, there is an underutilization of the BMTC fleet size as 792 out of the 6381 vehicles are not operational. All these have led to lesser number of buses on road. Nagendra, Deputy Chief Traffic Manager, BMTC, said that the lack of maintenance of buses and the shortage of staff affects the operation of buses.
Vignesh, who had to take an auto to reach Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal railway station, Baiyappanahalli (SMVB) said, “BMTC had introduced feeder buses to the railway station. However, they are not reliable as the service is irregular.” He added that the commuters who do not have private vehicles have to take autorickshaws or cabs, which charge more than the normal fare.
The Annual Administration Report 2021-22 of BMTC mentions that there was neither direct recruitment nor appointment on Compassionate Grounds in BMTC during 2021-22 and 2020-21, due to Covid-19, financial crisis and a direction of the Financial Department. According to the direction, recruitments in the financial year 2020-21 was “suspended to mobilize resources to deal with the situation caused by Covid-19 in the state.”
An official from the administrative department, BMTC, said that the last recruitment happened in 2019. “Since the schedules were not fully operational during the pandemic, it was not necessary to recruit more staff. After that there was a delay in getting government approval for recruitment. It has been cleared now.” He added that the BMTC will soon start the process of recruiting 2500 staff. He said that retirement of staff and inter-corporational transfer (which is capped at three percent) are the reasons for decreasing number of staff.
However, a study conducted by Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, shows that there was a shortage of staff in BMTC, even before the pandemic hit. According to ‘Analysis of workforce management in Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) – Traffic (commercial) and accounts departments,’ the staff shortage in the traffic (commercial) and accounts departments has impacted its working. The study recommends a revisit of staffing requirement for both traffic (commercial) and accounts departments, which was last done in 1982.
Prof. M.N. Sreehari, traffic management expert, said that there should be an increase in government funds to support the BMTC. “To hire private drivers or to recruit more staff, BMTC needs more fund as it is running short of money,”he added. “There are instances of BMTC drivers doing the job of a conductor and issuing tickets to the passengers. This is a sad state of the public transport,” he added.
