BMTC. Review on BMTC Services, Bangalore

This is with regards to the BMTC services in Bangalore. I have always been of view that BMTC has their objectives straight. But the past 2 months saw a change in my view. I reside in JP Nagar 9th Phase(Anjanapura) and I have been here for the past 20 odd months. I had actually boasted about the frequency of bus services in this area of Bangalore. But off late the bus services have actually become scarce in this area.

Every day I travel from this place to Sarjapur Outer Ring Road. I leave home at 6.30 so that I could be in the office by 8AM and I would have at least 2 busses to choose. Also has another reason – avoid morning traffic. Recently I noticed that usual busses are not to be found in the morning hours. And I have to wait from 6.30 to 7.00 to get a bus & by the time I reach office it’s almost 9 AM. So a delay of 30 minutes eventually cost me 1 hour to reach and I miss my busses at time from Banashankri to Sarjapur Outer Ring Road(411E, 321B).

For some days I thought that this could be the reason because of driver swapping. But then I actually found the reason later which is elaborated below. Anjanapura area lies off Kanakpura road. Landmark for this area is Nandi Gardens(Avalahalli). The reason behind the scarcity of busses is because the busses enroute Anjanapura take a turn at Avalahalli circle & proceed back to KR Market without even boarding the passengers from Anjanapura.

There are currently 4 stops between Anjanapura & Avalahalli circle – Avalahalli mosque, Nandi Gardens, Anjanapura circle, Anjanapura town. So by avoiding these 4 stops BMTC is losing out on the revenue generated by these stops. A scenario would explain this better. Consider an average of 5 passengers get onto the bus from these stops and keeping the ticket price as Rs7 on average. That Rs 35 per bus is lost out. The worst is yet to come.

There are rumors that whilst the BMTC busses are not in Anjanapura there are private busses available. The rumor is that BMTC chaps have a tie in with these private busses to take in their passengers. Now the same problem continues in the evening. I reach Banashankri at 7 PM. I usually take 215 K to reach Anjanapura or 215B, 215X to reach Avalahalli and then walk to Anjanapura. Same discrepancy continues in the evening. And yesterday I noticed something very disturbing. I was waiting in Banashankri to take a bus when I noticed a 215X coming from Anjanapura get into the bus station & turn to Banashankri stop to continue the trip to Anjanapura. The bus came to Banashankri with doors locked & didn’t permit any passengers to get in.

The conductor told us that the bus has a flat tyre & cannot continue the trip. It went to the station again. There the lights were put off for 15 minutes & driver actually waited for the private busses to come & take their passengers. Then the same bus came out & the passengers were asked to get in again. How can a bus while parked in the station change the tire in less than 10 minutes? This happened in Banashankri station.

So is there no one in the station who monitors the bus trips? There are other problems that a passenger faces with BMTC services

• When the bus reaches Anjanapura, the driver & conductor take 10 minutes to take a leak

• After the leak they take another 10 minutes to have their coffee / tea / cigarette

• Conductors don’t issue tickets for passengers travelling from Anjanapura to Nandi Gardens, but they take Rs 2 from passenger. I understand that the natures call cannot be avoided but then spending 10 minutes for a leak is just too much & additional 10 minutes for coffee / tea / cigarette is luxury. Why are all these things done to general public? BMTC has campaigns urging IT people to use their services rather than crowding the city roads with their vehicle. If their services are so reckless how do you pursue any one to take the services? It does not make sense.