Bus Days need a greater push

As the City toys with the ‘Open Streets’ concept, a similar effort by the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) called “Bus Day” has been reduced to a half-hearted initiative crying for a stronger push. The Bus Day, diligently observed on the 4th of every month for the past five years, was designed to encourage people to shun their private vehicles and hop on to the BMTC buses.

BMTC officials claim that over the years, the ridership on the BMTC buses has increased thanks to the Bus Day effort. However, the idea of reclaiming the roads by reducing the vehicular density on the roads on Bus Days has clearly lost its sheen.

On any given Bus Day, BMTC plies 1,000 to 1,500 extra schedules in addition to the existing schedules on pre-selected corridors. This is to help residents leave their vehicles at home that day and use the public bus service.

However, the success of a Bus Day in terms of actual occupancy rates, would depend on the day of the week on which the Day falls. According to BMTC's own admission, the peak occupancy day of the buses is Monday while the least occupancy day is Saturday. Officials say on Sundays, invariably the occupancy rate again picks up.

BMTC officials say the Bus Day effort needs more government push in terms of adding more number of buses to provide the much-needed last-mile connectivity as well as financial support. This would bring down the fares to make them more affordable across all the strata of society.

The Transport Corporation Managing Director Ekroop Caur has this to say on the issue: “The Bus Day is one of the oldest concept in the city. It is over five years old and over the past few years, the ridership of the buses has indeed increased. However, at the same time, roads have also got even more congested because of many reasons including access to private vehicles and affordability due to which owning a two-wheeler is the basic thing now.”

Caur notes that across the City, the road space has remained the same since there is no scope of widening the roads at several places. “So it has become even more difficult for road users as well as buses to ply on the roads. In a growing city like ours, public transport needs much more support than it is getting now to reclaim the roads. This is the only quick fix solution,” she notes.

The BMTC topbrass says the Corporation is constantly making efforts to revamp the Bus Day. “We are trying to make it even more lucrative for people to ride on by reaching out to maximum people and involving communities. But, at the same time, we are aware that it needs a stronger push from the government side. The Corporation alone cannot do it,” says Caur.

The first Bus Day was observed on February 4, 2010. Since then, it has become a tradition to observe Bus Day usually on the 4th of every month. According to BMTC, on each Bus Day, the ridership increases on an average by 8-10 per cent. Revenue too shows a rising trend. As there are less private vehicles on the roads on Bus Days, it has also been found that vehicular speeds increases by almost by 10 per cent.