[sustran] Get on the Bangalore bus

[Asija, Navdeep]

Getting from one place to another in the cities and towns of India is no
easy task. While the Delhi Metro has undoubtedly made a huge difference to
commuters in the nation’s capital, public transport options in the form of
bus or train services for residents of most cities of India remain not only
limited but also unsafe, unclean and unreliable.
Bangalore Metropolitan Transportation Corporation (BMTC), an independent
corporation carved out of the Karnataka State Road Transportation
Corporation (KSRTC) in 1997, stands out among the State Transport
Undertakings in the country in providing an efficient and wide-ranging
variety of bus services to suit the needs of different income groups in
Bangalore. It does so while also making a profit. Prior to 1997, bus
services in Bangalore were no different from the usual state of affairs
elsewhere. The range of services was limited. The two divisions of KSRTC
that were responsible for running bus services in the city typically made
annual losses of around Rs 30 crore.

Bangalore has grown from 531 sq km in 2001 to 800 sq km in 2007. Its
population has increased from 57 lakh in 2001 to 84 lakh in 2011, while the
number of registered vehicles has increased from 16 lakh to 39 lakh. Of
these, 88 per cent are personal vehicles. Imagine the plight of the city if
the bus services had not shown a significant improvement! Even with the
transformation, Bangalore is notorious for its traffic jams and congestion
arising from lack of transit-oriented planning as the city grows in area,
population, and economic prosperity. But BMTC has played a major role in
addressing the challenge of public transportation.

BMTC has a fleet of 6138 buses. It makes close to 80,000 bus trips every
day, provides different degrees of comfort at different prices, covers 13
lakh service kilometres and carries 47 lakh passengers within greater
Bangalore. It offers an impressive array of services to suit the multiple
demands of its customers. There are close to 4000 ordinary bus services
operating in the city. Atal Sarige is a service for specific locations to
cater to the demands of economically weaker sections of society at half the
fare of ordinary services. The Pushpak service, using about 300 buses with
better upholstered seats, headrests, more leg space, etc. is popular among
corporate groups. At the high -income end, Vajra service is provided by
plying air-conditioned low-floor Volvo buses to put their service on par
with the personalised mode of transport. Volvo buses are also deployed for
Vayu Vajra service for connectivity from different locations in the city to
the Bangalore International Airport. A BIG-10 service has been introduced
on 12 major traffic corridors to provide services to connect a few
important places with high frequency.

Passenger-friendly initiatives have included the introduction of the
monthly pass system with special features to attract customers, for
example, Rs 1 lakh as insurance for loss of life, Rs 20,000 towards medical
treatment, etc. Monthly-pass passengers have increased from 43,000 in
1998-99 to over 300,000 in 2011-12. Daily pass passengers in 2011-12 were
also over 100,000.

Fleet modernisation, expansion and good maintenance have played a major
role in improving the quality of bus services in Bangalore. In 1997, the
corporation had 2098 buses with an average age of seven years; the oldest
bus was 20 years old. Today it has the youngest fleet in the country with
an average age of 3.9 years. Increasing the number of bus depots to 39 and
spreading their location in the city has enabled saving of dead time and
kilometres by the fleet. A system of regular pre-emptive checks has been
put in place, supplemented by a system of mobile workshops using
fast-moving small vehicles driven by mechanics. As a result, there has been
a dramatic decline in the rate of breakdowns from 0.64 per 10,000 km in
1996-97 to 0.05 in 2009-10.

Safety remains a major concern as BMTC expands its scope of activity in a
city environment deficient in overall urban planning. The rate of accidents
has declined from 0.32 per lakh kilometre in 1997-98 to 0.15 in 2007-08,
although the absolute number of accidents increased from 472 in 2003-04 to
578 in 2007-08 as service kilometres increased.

Financial sustainability of BMTC is ensured by a pricing policy that has an
element of cross-subsidy whereby customers utilising higher-end services
subsidise their counterparts using ordinary bus services, and exploiting
other sources of revenue. This is significant because user charges in road
transport are typically not able to cover costs and there is always need to
buttress revenue through other innovative means. While BMTC makes a profit
of Rs 50 crore, DTC (Delhi Transport Corporation) makes a huge loss of Rs
2000 crore, its operating losses alone amounting to Rs 500 crore.

In mobilising revenue, BMTC has made innovative investments in land (they
have 1,400 acres of land) and is unlocking its value through real estate
development. In a national pilot project, BMTC received funding under
JNNURM to build 10 Traffic and Transit Management Centres (TTMCs) in
Bangalore. These centres not only provide bus terminals, bus bays and
maintenance depots but are also designed to house passenger amenities such
as Bangalore One, ATMs and shops for daily needs. Operational activity at
the bus terminals has started, but the process of tendering for commercial
activity is currently going on. There is a lot of scope for revenue
mobilisation as the project comes into full swing and the other 35 planned
TTMCs also come on board. In this season of taxes, it is worth noting that
buses do not get any favourable treatment vis-à-vis cars. In fact, excise
duty on buses has been raised from 10 per cent to 15 per cent. In addition,
bus companies have to pay 1 per cent of the ticket revenue as passenger
taxes.

BMTC has used IT extensively to streamline its operations. All operations
in the depots such as ticketing, stores, accounting etc. have been fully
computerised. E-tendering is used for procurement of goods and services,
and bus route information is available online. After experimenting with
GPS-GIS for vehicle tracking and passenger information systems on a pilot
basis, BMTC is currently floating a new tender to use GPS-GIS based system
on all its services.

All BMTC bus depots are equipped with latest the emission testing
facilities. In keeping with the stipulation of the government of India, the
sulphur content in diesel use has been brought down from 250 ppm to 50. All
new buses (350) comply with the Euro IV standard, while close to 4,000
buses are complying with the Euro III standard. BMTC pays Rs 1,000 to any
person who informs them about a polluting bus plying on the roads of
Bangalore. The 4th of every month is observed as Bus Day to encourage the
citizens of Bangalore to leave their private vehicles home and use public
transport. A 10 per cent decrease in the amount of pollutants in the air
has been documented, and this is also associated with a significant
decrease in the amount of respirable suspended particulate matter as well
as carbon monoxide on the Bus Days.

Beginning with UITP Asia Pacific award for outstanding performance in the
field of affordable public transport in 2002, BMTC has received numerous
awards year after year, including the International Gold Star Millennium
Award in Bangkok in 2006-07 and the Prime Minister Civil Service Excellence
Award in 2009. The awards and the sustained good performance of BMTC is a
remarkable story to narrate. U. Tripathi, the then managing director of
BMTC, who spearheaded the reforms to bring about the transformation of BMTC
has this to say: “The great transformation story of BMTC, is a success
story of work by drivers, conductors, mechanics, and management.” He also
emphasised the role played by the late Mr Gokulram, then chairman, BMTC in
keeping the morale of the BMTC staff high in the face of stiff resistance
to reform in the initial stages.

The lessons from BMTC are being narrated world over, and it is high time
our own transport corporations took some inspiration from what has been
achieved in Bangalore.

The writer is chairperson of ICRIER and former chairperson of the
high-powered expert committee on urban infrastructure services.

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