Bengaluru: “On June 10, BMTC will introduce 1,500 buses, which were announced in this year's state budget. The buses include midi, non-AC and Volvo buses. Some of them will serve as feeders. We are also thinking of reducing the fares in BMTC buses,” said BMTC Chairman Nagaraj Yadav, here on Wednesday.
While the fare issue is merely at a discussion stage now, the BMTC is open to the idea, he said. In line with the demand put forth by the campaigners for a Bus Bhagya, he believes that cheap fares will attract more people.
“The corporation will suffer some initial losses until the public becomes aware, but will eventually make profits,” he said.
“However, before we decide on any fare-related move, we want to publicise and encourage citizens to use public transport, for which we have started a marketing department. Over the next three months, you can expect aggressive campaigns by BMTC,” he said.
The marketing department will try and convince people to stop using their private vehicles, and shift to buses.
The team is also responsible for tying up with schools and colleges, under BMTC's chartered services scheme.
On BMTC adding more buses, Mr Srinivas Alavilli of the Citizens for Bengaluru said, “While addition to the fleet in necessary, we reiterate the fact that reduction in fares is what will have a dramatic effect on patronage. This is the perfect time to launch lessened fares, along with the new buses.”
BMTC claims to have seen an increase of 20,000 passengers, ever since they reduced ticket price for shorter distances by Rs 2. However, no more changes have been made since then, much to the disappointment of commuters, he said.
The corporation is also mulling over other initiatives, like group discounts, happy hour discounts where ticket prices are reduced during non-peak hours, tying up specifically with all girls' schools for chartered services and offering free wifi in Volvos.
Traffic cops cite hurdles
While both BMTC and CfB are on a similar page if not the same, the Traffic Police is not entirely convinced.
“Bus priority lanes won't work in Bengaluru because traffic is heavy and roads are narrow. A bus generally halts for a minute so commuters can get on/off and 60 buses ply per hour on a single lane. That's 3,000 bus passengers getting only one lane which will cause a jam,” said R Hithendra, Additional Commissioner of Traffic, adding that two lanes was not an option.
When asked about experimenting on Outer Ring Road, Hithendra said there were not enough bus bays to make halts. “People say the Sheshadri road’s single bus lane worked well. I don't see it. It only slowed down the traffic and is not ideal for us,” he added.
