[sustran] Re: Low-fare bus service for poor in poor shape

[Sunny Kodukula]

This is the perfect time for BMTC to actually charge the motorists their 
actual cost of driving. The income can be used to support the public 
transport and other sustainable transport modes. The outcome mentioned 
in the news below is a normal case in many cities trying to have low 
public transport fares. Often the cities at one point will not have 
enough resources to maintain the quality of service and hence 
deteriorate the public transport quality further.

Our project (GTZ-SUTP) has released a sourcebook module 1f, on how 
financing of sustainable urban transport can be made possible from 
various sources. The readers can download the same from our project 
website. 
http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=22&Itemid=54&lang=en

cheers
sunny

On 1/3/11 2:45 PM, Vinay Baindur wrote:
> http://expressbuzz.com/cities/bangalore/low-fare-bus-service-for-poor-in-poor-shape/236369.html
>
> *Low-fare bus service for poor in poor shape*
>
>   *By Express News Service
> 03 Jan 2011 03:36:38 AM IST*
>
>
>
> BANGALORE: The state government has not kept its promise to improve the
> lowfare bus service that it had introduced for economically weaker sections
> in May 2009.Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and Transport Minister R Ashok
> had launched Atal Sarige bus service to mark the Bharatiya Janata Party
> government's one year in the state. The fares of the buses are half of the
> ordinary fare. These buses provide connectivity to areas populated by
> economically weaker sections of the society.The Bangalore Metropolitan
> Transport Corporation (BMTC) had introduced 25 Atal Sarige buses in 2009.
> The plans were to add more buses and more routes. At the launch of the
> service, the chief minister had promised that the scope of the service would
> be expanded at the second anniversary of the government. However, no action
> followed that promise. Neither any new bus nor any new route has been
> added.BMTC Managing Director Syed Zameer Pasha told Express that the
> proposal to expand the scope of service was still in discussion as there had
> been significant increase in price of diesel as well as labour cost.
> Further, he said the bus service was a part of the BMTC's corporate social
> responsibility. He said as the finances were not supported by the
> government, they had to work out a feasible action plan. A BMTC official
> said till now there had been no communication regarding the matter from the
> state.The buses are in a bad condition. A few seats have become totally
> unusable. Further, the service is erratic and unreliable.Some of the routes
> on which Atal Sarige was introduced are:Avalahalli BDA LayoutBanashankari
> bus stand, SrinagarRamakrishna Ashram, GangondanahalliSirsi Circle. The fare
> for the route is `4.
>   © Copyright 2008 ExpressBuzz
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