JOIN USVayu Vajra buses to sport green
All Vayu Vajra buses to the airport are going green, only in colour though. The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is replacing its entire fleet of red Vayu Vajra buses with brand new Volvos with a green scheme.
K R Sreenivas, Managing Director, BMTC, told Deccan Herald that 64 new Volvo buses would replace the Vayu Vajra fleet by April-end.
The move, according to Prabhu Das, BMTC Chief Traffic Manager, is to create a brand for the Vayu Vajra buses, separate from that of the Vajra buses plying on regular routes.
According to him, the older buses will be used to augment the services within the City. The buses are part of 100 new Volvos being added to the BMTC fleet.
Colour confusion
This change in colours of the Vayu Vajra, Das says, has been done partly to remedy the confusion caused by the newly introduced red non-AC BS4 buses.
Krishna Kumar, a commuter, said he got onto one of the new red buses thinking it was Volvo, only to realise it was an ordinary bus. “With the bus having the same route number as well as colour, I couldn’t distinguish it from the Volvo. But I didn’t mind it, as the bus was new and the fare cheaper,” he said.
Many commuters like Kumar have mistaken these buses for Vajras, forcing the BMTC to display “ordinary fare” stickers on the buses.
“There was some confusion among commuters in the first few weeks, but for now, they have got used to them,” said Das.
Popular buses
Sreenivas said the new buses were quite a hit among commuters. “These buses generate the most revenue,” he added.
Ashwin Mahesh, member of the Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure and Development (ABIDe) Task Force, said most of the colour schemes of BMTC buses had been chosen on an ad hoc basis.
“The colour of the bus should mean something. Except for the Big 10 and Big Circle buses, the colours of BMTC buses mean nothing.”
He said the BMTC should come up with consistent colour schemes which help inform the commuter about either the routes or the fares.
BMTC has multiple colour schemes for the ‘ordinary fare’ buses: Blue and white, light blue, orange and light blue Mariupol non-AC, and the brand new red BS4 buses introduced in December last year.