From yanivbin at gmail.com Sun Sep 2 17:06:36 2018 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2018 13:36:36 +0530 Subject: [sustran] BMTC to run electric buses in 5 years: G Parameshwara Message-ID: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/bmtc-to-run-electric-buses-in-5-years-g-parameshwara/articleshow/65603528.cms BMTC to run electric buses in 5 years: G Parameshwara ET Bureau| Aug 30, 2018, 11.27 AM IST [image: bmtc-bus-agencies]The city will, instead, have electric buses for public transport, Parameshwara, who also holds the Bengaluru development portfolio, said after opening the eighth edition of ?Bus World India 2018?. Over the next five years, the state government will phase out diesel buses deployed for public transport in Bengaluru, deputy chief minister G Parameshwara said on Tuesday, giving hope to citizens long complaining about rising pollution. The city will, instead, have electric buses for public transport, Parameshwara, who also holds the Bengaluru development portfolio, said after opening the eighth edition of ?Bus World India 2018?, an exhibition of buses here at the international exhibition centre near Peenya. Companies including Tata Motors NSE 3.14 % , MG Automotives, Force Motors NSE 0.00 % and Olectra (formerly Goldstone) showcased their latest passenger vehicles and innovations during the event. ?Over 70 lakh vehicles use Bengaluru roads every day and our roads were not built to take so much of traffic load. We require an efficient public transport system including buses. There is a proposal with our government to replace all buses with electric buses in about five years,? Parameshwara said. His comment of converting the BMTC fleet in five years appears to be ambitious as none of the BMTC?s 6,500 buses is electric. Though the corporation had introduced an electric bus on a pilot basis in 2014, the services were suspended in three months and it did not venture into buying such buses due to high cost and maintenance. Last year, the transport utility changed its mind and initiated the process of purchasing electric buses as the Union government had come out with a subsidy. In February, Hyderabad-based Olectra Greentech was listed to provide 80 buses to the BMTC but it has not awarded the work yet. Transport experts believe that converting the fleet into electric is a step in the right direction but point out that it could take much longer time. ?Production and availability of electric vehicles is a real challenge. Though it?s good to have goals such as this, the government should encourage production and import of electric vehicles,? urbanist Ashwin Mahesh said. From yanivbin at gmail.com Wed Sep 12 22:39:26 2018 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2018 19:09:26 +0530 Subject: [sustran] BMTC wants exclusive corridor Message-ID: http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/bengaluru/2018/sep/07/bmtc-wants-exclusive-corridor-1868987.html BMTC wants exclusive corridor Sources in BMTC told CE that passengers were using personal vehicles mainly due to lengthy commute time and lack of last mile connectivity. Published: 07th September 2018 10:58 PM | Last Updated: 08th September 2018 06:19 AM By Harsha Express News Service BENGALURU:BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Organisation) as part of the reforms to increase public transport ridership has written to the government on declaring dedicated corridors and enforcing the parking policy stringently. BMTC Managing Director V Ponnuraj said a ?clear road? will be available for public transport if government declares exclusive lanes for BMTC buses and make on-street parking as expensive as possible. BMTC?s letter to government is based on the feedback cum survey of its passengers, some of them shifting to using personal vehicles like two-wheelers or cars. Sources in BMTC told CE that passengers were using personal vehicles mainly due to lengthy commute time and lack of last mile connectivity. A survey done recently revealed that 60 per cent of commuters were willing to pay more if they were dropped at the destination on the scheduled time. ?Interestingly the survey?s findings were more or less similar to a similar exercise conducted in 2011,?? sources said. Is the demand for corridors exclusively for BMTC buses seem practicable in a mega city with highest number of about 70 lakh transport vehicles ?. Sources in BMTC cite ?Taipei? model, presented at an international conclave held in New Delhi, which has re-allocated space for buses. Sources in BMTC informed CE that traffic police were the biggest stumbling block in realising dedicated corridors for BMTC. ?The letter besides seeking dedicated corridors wherever it is feasible had urged government to convert one-way into a two-way roads exclusively for BMTC buses. The motorists and users of other personal vehicles on witnessing BMTC access one-way roads would be tempted to shift to the public transport system,?? sources said and added that it was high time BMTC was involved in urban planning. Justifying the need to give priority to bus transport, sources said at 90 paisa per passenger/kilometer buses are still the cheapest mode of transport. While in metros the per passenger trip subsidy ranges from `50 (Jaipur) to `78 (Lucknow). ?Such dedicated corridors will ease congestion, pollution, increases efficiency, productivity of drivers and prevents BMTC from running into losses,?? sources stressed. The reforms linked with funds in transport sector is need-of-the hour as a report by Centre for Science and Environment, submitted at the international conclave in New Delhi, had predicted a dip in the share of public transport from 75.5 per cent in 2000-01 to 44.7 per cent in 2030-31. Though the report urges governments to keep public transport services affordable for all, governments across the country have neglected bus transport. *BMTC-friendly St Mark?s Road* BMTC has declared a tendersure road, St Mark?s Road, in BBMP limits as BMTC-friendly. ?Much space has been earmarked for movement of buses,?? sources in BMTC told CE. *?BMTC best STU in India?* ?Apart from BMTC, many public transport corporations in the country are broke for decades,?? declared Gautam Patel of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) at an international conclave in New Delhi recently. BMTC also received a pat for its best practice of fare revision. ?The fare is revised when fuel price and DA crosses a threshold of 0.25 paisa per passenger, kilometre. BMTC, is the only state transport undertaking (STU) which carries 12 times more commuters than Metro. BMTC which had reduced total losses to five per cent in previous fiscal, hopes to achieve break-even in this fiscal,?? BMTC MD V Ponnuraj said. From yanivbin at gmail.com Tue Sep 25 00:59:56 2018 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2018 21:29:56 +0530 Subject: [sustran] 3, 821 trees to be cut for Bangalore elevated corridor project Message-ID: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/3821-trees-to-be-cut-for-elevated-corridor-project/article25023418.ece 3,821 trees to be cut for elevated corridor project K.V. Aditya Bharadwaj BENGALURU, SEPTEMBER 24, 2018 01:37 IST UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 24, 2018 01:37 IST SHARE ARTICLE - 68 - - - - - PRINT - A A A MORE-IN Roads and Rails No proposal for translocating them A total of 3,281 trees will have to be felled and 2,084 trees pruned to build a network of elevated corridors that will span the length and breadth of the city. The Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd. (KRDCL), which is implementing the project, has submitted its application for Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Study to the State-level Environment Impact Assessment Authority, Karnataka. However, it makes no mention of translocating the trees, which KRDCL officials had claimed would be carried out. In its application, the road development corporation argues that the elevated corridor project may possibly be considered as a construction project equal to more than 20,000 sq. m and qualify for an environment clearance. At the same time, it also makes note of the fact that elevated corridors are not mentioned in the list of projects qualifying for environmental clearance as per the EIA notification. It puts forth the same argument the State government had unsuccessfully made in an attempt to exclude the now-scrapped steel flyover project on Ballari Road from getting an environment clearance in 2016: parts of the proposed elevated corridor are national and State highways and hence the project can be classified as a highway. However, the National Green Tribunal had struck down the argument made for the steel flyover case in 2017. [image: 3,821 trees to be cut for elevated corridor project] Project cost pegged at ?19,265 crore The State Budget pegged the cost of the network of elevated corridors at ?15,285 crore and set aside ?1,000 crore for this fiscal. However, the detailed feasibility report (DFR) ? now in public domain ? pegs the cost of the project at ?19,265 crore. This excludes the cost of acquisition of nearly 140.57 acres of prime real estate and 1,130 buildings, a majority of them commercial structures. Acquiring the land will be a hurdle: the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), for instance, has not been able to widen a single road in over a decade as no landowner has accepted Transferable Development Rights (TDR) for compensation. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) pays cash compensation for the land acquired for the Namma Metro project. The feasibility report suggests the hybrid annuity model, where the government will make annual payments across the concession period of 15 years and monetise other sources of revenues, including user fees and real estate. The elevated corridor will be tolled and the toll rates assumed for viability in 2016 were ?1.62 per km for two-wheelers, ?4.80 per km for cars and ?12.97 per km for buses. The cost of land acquisition is out of the hybrid annuity model and the DFR is silent on this cost, not even accounting for it in an economic viability study. An exit/entry ramp every 1.5 km The 89.66-km-long network of elevated corridors will have an entry/exit ramp every 1.5 km. A total of 58 ramps are proposed. These entry/exit ramps will effectively take away a lane for through traffic at every kilometre and also ruin the space below at grade, making the roads a large maze, said V. Ravichandar, former member of the BBMP Restructuring Committee. ?Government should try public mass transport? The Karnataka Road Development Corporation?s step to get environmental clearance for the elevated corridor project has caught those opposing the project unawares as they were promised wide-ranging public consultations by the government. ?We met the Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister G. Parameshwara recently, and he had assured us that the project would be taken up only after public consultations,? said Srinivas Alavilli of Citizens for Bengaluru that emerged out of the Steel Flyover Beda campaign. He said even if public consultations were held as part of the process of getting environmental clearance, its scope will be limited to the environment impact of the project. ?We appeal to the government to try public mass transport. Concrete *beda*, public transport* beku*,? he said.