BRT, reduced fare can salvage BMTC: Experts

As BMTC reworks its proposal to hike fares by 14%, experts cautioned higher fares will only push more commuters out of buses, and suggested two key reforms to check further losses.

Rising fuel costs and a drop in the number of commuters over the last five years have aggravated the financial woes of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC).

The cumulative loss is pegged at about Rs 1000 crore. Last week, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy sent back a proposal for fare hike and told officials to prepare a comprehensive plan to help the BMTC.

A team of IISc researchers led by professor of Transport Systems Engineering Ashish Verma said BMTC’s revenue can go up by more than 26% by two steps that can be taken in the short-term. “A 50-km bus rapid transport (BRT) and reducing the fare for the short distance commuter can boost the BMTC’s ridership and revenue by more than 26%,” Verma said.

The research paper analyses the BMTC’s prospects in three scenarios, including the ‘business as usual’ one, in which the corporation earns Rs 42.34 per km while investing Rs 58.65, a loss of 27%.

The paper says reducing the fares for short and medium trips will increase such trips (6-12 km) by about 13 to 14% while decreasing the ridership of other private modes by more than 15%.

More importantly, it concludes: “The analysis output and emission plots show that BRT will increase the ridership of the BMTC by more than 4% and will also improve the revenue by almost 23% along with drastically reducing the NOx (nitrogen oxide) emissions.”

Responding to the claim, a BMTC official said BRT was proposed more than 15 years ago but has never been implemented. “Besides diesel price, the 12.5% hike in salary and allowances for the staff, which came into effect in 2016, has affected finances. Only government aid can save the corporation,” an official said.

Verma agreed that the BMTC requires government support both financially and to implement BRT. “While fare restructuring can be done internally, the government initiative is required to implement BRT,” he said.

The research paper does not consider the proposed fare hike. To a question, Verma said it will lead to more people dropping the bus for a motorcycle.

“BMTC has already lost lakhs of passengers due to the high fare. A hike may increase the revenue marginally in the initial days, but it will go down rapidly as people find affordable alternatives,” he said.