Wanted: Crowd-free buses in Bengaluru after lockdown

A restrained lockdown relaxation is a fortnight away, but is the city prepared for a dramatic shift to personal private transport in big, unmanageable numbers? Fuelled by the fear of breaking the social-distance in public transport, thousands might just shift to their cars and bikes. Is the city ready?

The risk of an unprecedented surge in the use of personal vehicles is real. In a white paper submitted to the Centre recently, a team of Indian Institute of Science (IISc) researchers warned that this would trigger more traffic congestion, increased air and noise pollution ultimately leading to adverse health impacts.

Social-distancing is bound to emerge as the primary precautionary measure, a new normal even after the lockdown is relaxed substantially. But the city’s public transport modes, the Metro and the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses are not built for distancing. Is there a way out?

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Behavioural change

Yes, but only if the government fully understands the behavioural changes in people and the travel choices they make for smart planning and policy interventions during the lockdown recovery period.

Led by Associate Professor Ashish Verma, the IISc team notes that this understanding will help the government prevent any second wave. The message is clear: Integrate the public transportation system with the response mechanism.

So, how can social distancing work in an inadequate public transport system? “Reduce the occupancy of the bus. This can be done by cross-marking some seats in a systematic way to ensure there is enough safe distance between each passenger,” the white paper suggests.

Reserved seats

Mining the COVID-19 case data has indicated that predominantly, senior citizens are most susceptible to the disease. Inevitably, this would spur them to opt for personal vehicles. To address this, “transit services should come up with passes and subsidies for persons above 60 years, and provision for a greater number of reserved seats.”

But how can measures reduce crowding inside buses work when there are so few vehicles? The 6,300 BMTC buses have been dubbed grossly inadequate for a city of 1.3 crore. This does pose a big challenge, admits the researchers. Yet there are ways to get around.

WFH, staggered timings

One key suggestion is to mandate Work from Home (WFH), maybe a few days every week. Besides giving more flexibility to employees, this holds the potential to reduce personal private vehicles on the roads. Fewer office-goers would mean fewer passengers even in public transport, thereby boosting social distancing.

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Reduced road congestion and vehicular pollution would clearly be the spin-off benefits, as the lockdown has clearly proved. But to optimize this, the government would also have to insist that companies stagger their work timings in a particular location.

Full fleet operation

The capacity crunch in BMTC can be addressed by operating the entire fleet from 6 am till night, contends Vinay Sreenivasa from the Bus Prayanikara Vedike. “BMTC needs to take drivers and conductors on contract to operate the buses through the day. Before the lockdown, not all the buses ran all the time. You cannot do that once the lockdown is eased,” he says.

Even after the lockdown goes, the Metro is unlikely to run with its air-conditioned coaches for a few weeks. “People will then look for buses, and you need more of them on the road to also ensure social distancing within,” notes Sreenivasa.

To add to the fleet, he suggests that contract carriers be withdrawn from big corporate and schools and used for the public. “Schools and colleges will not open immediately. Post-lockdown, the government should find out who all need the bus. If garment factories start working, workers should need the buses to get there. Otherwise, they will be pushed to penury.”

Disinfecting bus stops

Beyond public transport vehicles, safety concerns require the related infrastructure to be kept hygienic. Disinfecting bus stops and bus terminals are critical. In this regard, the IISc researchers have suggested replicating what Kerala did. Some local panchayats there have installed wash basins and hand sanitizers at every bus stop.

The lockdown has opened up the possibility of expanding a hitherto ignored sustainable personal transport option: Cycling. Mobility experts are unanimous in their articulation that the bicycle is the most ideal green choice to commute the short distance, guaranteeing social distance and efficiency.

WHO guideline

In a technical guidance on mobility during COVID-19 times, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had recommended bicycles or walking. It had emphasized that cycling and walking are useful for both social distancing and meeting the minimum requirement for daily physical activity.

Following suit, cities worldwide have been allotting ample road space to cyclists and pedestrians. Bengaluru’s Bicycle Mayor Sathya Sankaran too had suggested that the bus lanes be converted to cycle lanes during the lockdown period, and modified thereafter.

Paris has recently rolled out emergency cycle lanes for use of key workers and others. On the post-lockdown agenda are ‘Corona Cycleways’ in that city.

Social-distancing in trains

To ensure social distancing in trains, a suggestion by Varma’s team is to allot not more than four people in an eight-seater cabin. However, this regulation can be applied only for reserved classes. For unreserved classes, this would be a big challenge.

Strict enforcement by posting adequate number of security personnel in every train could be a way out, as the team suggests. But this is bound to reduce capacity of trains. One option could be to replace AC classes with sleeper classes in trains with higher demand. “RAC should be done away with no Waiting List passengers should be allowed in.”

The maximum number of coaches in a train can be 24(ICF type) /22(LHB type). To optimize capacity and prevent overcrowding, the number of reserved coaches can be varied and unreserved compartments increased in popular trains.