The Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike (BBPV) and other organisations have urged the government to earmark a large budgetary sum to make bus travel free for women, students, senior citizens and the transgender community.
They also want the hiring freeze at BMTC to end and for the bus fleet to get bigger by 3,000 buses.
Activists at a press conference called for a free bus travel scheme to be implemented in the state, similar to Delhi, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
This would not only provide financial assistance, but also increase accessibility, since lack of last-mile buses has made people rely on the expensive option of hiring auto-rickshaws.
“Bus travel is still unaffordable for many in the city,” said BBPV’s Shaheen Shamsa.
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“We have been demanding reduced fares for nearly 10 years since we began this campaign, but there has not been a positive response yet,” she said.
Shaheen urged authorities not to look at public transport within the profit-loss binary.
Mamatha from Naveddu Nilladiddare highlighted how the lack of bus connectivity in the city adversely affects many women and students’ access to work and education.
Activists also urged the BMTC to recruit an additional 1,000 staff and increase their fleet from the current 6,500 buses (5,600 operating on the roads) to a minimum of 9,500 within the next three years.
Their petition on Jhatkaa.org (https://fundbmtc.carrd.co) has garnered about 600 online signatures and close to 400 offline signatures so far.