‘No more BMTC monopoly’: Calls grow to allow private buses in Bengaluru

In a bid to improve public transport in Bengaluru, there has been a noticeable push to allow private companies to operate bus services within the city limits, with urban experts, industry leaders and even politicians backing the move. 

During a fireside chat at a mobility symposium on Friday, former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai called for dismantling the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation’s (BMTC) monopoly on bus services in the city. 

Calling the BMTC a “failed” organisation, he suggested that allowing popular cab aggregators to run buses would help improve the city’s traffic issues by putting more public transport vehicles on the roads. 

“The BMTC has been a failure in Bengaluru. They have not been able to solve the public transport system. It is time for the government to re-examine the workings of this agency. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure there are enough transport facilities for citizens. Their job is not to become a service provider and run a company. That’s an archaic system. Moving from this, they must open up the sector to private operators,” Pai later told DH, adding that the government could continue operating the BMTC for “free services as a social programme”.

Ramalinga Reddy

At the fireside chat, urban expert R K Misra was also in agreement with Pai’s suggestions. 

Speaking at the event, Bangalore South MP L S Tejasvi Surya stressed the importance of the same.

Mohandas Pai

“In the last 15 years, the BMTC’s fleet size has nearly stagnated while the city’s population has increased. The city’s narrow roads also need smaller buses. But there is a 1970s legislation that does not allow for private transport players to operate in the city. This socialist residue is not only keeping India’s economy slow, it is also shackling our urban mobility options,” Tejasvi Surya said.

They only think of profits: Transport minister

Those suggesting that the plying of bus services in the city be opened up to the private sector do not prioritise public welfare.

“These people are only in favour of private companies. They are thinking of profits. The Congress government does not align with these views,” said Ramalinga Reddy, Transport Minister. 

With a fleet of about 7,000 buses, ferrying approximately 48 lakh passengers every day, the BMTC is one of the backbones of public transport in the city, he noted. “Instead of worrying about the BMTC, BJP politicians must rather look at how public transport buses function in their own states. Apart from Maharashtra, the public bus systems are failing in almost all their states. They come nowhere close to the BMTC,” he asserted.