Wanted... More BMTC buses

Commuting Hassles

In order to provide respite to the people of the City who commute daily by bus, the BMTC is planning to increase the frequency of buses during peak hours. But this move is still in its early stages and will take almost a month and a half to be implemented.

Says J Arun Chakravarthy, Director of Security, Vigilance and Environment, BMTC, “There are three shifts during which the buses operate. The first shift is from 6 am to 2 pm and the second shift starts from 2 pm and goes until 10 in the night. Apart from this, there is a general shift from 7 am to 8 pm and this is preferred the most by the commuters. So we are planning to increase the frequency of buses that operate during this shift.”

More buses means more reliability and less hassles. Says Lakshmi, “I finish work at 7 pm and getting a bus after this to my house in Malleswaram is very difficult. I have to wait at the bus stop for almost half an hour. Even if I finally get a bus, it is always packed. So this is indeed a good change especially during days when I have to stay back in office for a longer time. If this is implemented, I will no longer have to worry about not getting a bus late in the evening.”

Apporva, a student of Bishop Cotton Women’s Christian College, is of the same opinion. “More number of buses are needed. I have to travel everyday from my house near
Bangalore University to Mission Road and it is very difficult as there aren’t enough buses and they do not even come on time. So if there is a bus every 15 minutes, it will be convenient. The BMTC should increase the number of Volvos.”

Another person, who is quite happy with this move, is Nishali, an operations analyst. She says, “I do not travel frequently by bus on weekdays but during weekends, I rely a lot on the public transport.

Normally I have to wait for more than an hour to get a bus from Koramangala or Mayo Hall to Kundanahalli. Most of the time, I end up taking an auto home. So the easy availability of buses along my route will reduce my expenses to a large extent.” 

It will make a lot of difference to people like Sumitha as well. “If bus service is increased on the Jeevanbhimanagar-Jaideva route, I would be so happy. I face the problem of getting

a Volvo everyday between 5 pm and 6 pm. I even checked with the conductor once and he said there are no buses
operating during this time.
So if something can be done to get at least a few buses on this route during this time, it
would be really helpful,”
she says.