JOIN USHalf the City’s population wouldn’t move without its BMTC buses, even if personal vehicles dominate Bangalore’s roadscape. This is precisely why the story of the public transport bus had to be recorded for posterity, its evolution tracked in imagery and models, the legacy captured in a museum.
Proposed years ago by Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) but virtually forgotten now, the museum would have captured the essence of a stupendous journey that began in the 1940’s. It could have linked the new generation -- beckoned by the Volvo’s and Coronas of today -- with an age where Bedford buses, Articulated Double Deckers and bus bodies built by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) roamed the city!
In fact, it was precisely for a museum that the State’s first bus, the “Sri Banashankari,” a Bedford model housed in a body built by the Canadian Brond Ford Coach Body Limited, was brought to Bangalore from Bijapur. The bus with an American-built Perkins P6 engine, was to be the museum’s showpiece. Ferrying transport staff to fairs in Banashankari and Savadatti in North Karnataka, doubling as a mobile office, it had earned that name and stature.
But the story had to begin with the Bangalore Transport Company (BTC), which eventually morphed into the BMTC. Formed in 1940, BTC operated buses between the city proper and Old Cantonment areas. “Tata and Ashok Leyland (AL) buses were mainstays of even BTC. Tatas started off with its 312 model, switched to the 1210 engine, and then to the Direct Injection System ones. The 350-model Leyland buses for BTC had hydraulic brakes, before improving to air brakes,” recalled AM Nadaf, who retired as Managing Director, North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) in the 1990’s.
Then came the buses with the Japanese Hino engines, equipped with air suspension technology. Vehicles fitted with Dodge Fargo engines were part of the city transport fleet between 1960 and 1965. Bus bodies continued to be built locally and at the KSRTC regional workshops. HAL too had delivered two of its own design bodies in the 1950’s.
“Less sound, less jerks and jumps and safety were the main concerns of the commuters in the City. Bus designs and engines underwent changes accordingly,” said Nadaf.
A museum would be incomplete without the double deckers, about 30 of which were operated by the Bangalore Transport Service (BTS) in the late eighties and early nineties.
The Articulated Double Deckers had a tractor carrying the driver and the main body at the rear. Conventional Double Deckers had built-in driver’s cabin. One of these, the Kaveri, was later modified with its roof taken off for city tours. This bus is currently off the roads for maintenance.