The study names Bangalore as one among the three cities where vehicular traffic moves at snail’s pace (18 kmph) and calls for immediate attention.

While the Ministry of Urban Development (MuD) accords importance to the use of public transport in its national urban transport policy, can it get to the crux of the problem and address the issue of equitable allocation of road space?

Deccan Herald spoke to officials on this issue of optimum utilisation of public transport.

Dr M Ramachandran, Secretary to the Government of India (MuD), felt that governments have to look beyond metro and mono rails to address the need for providing a comprehensive public transport system.

“Our mega cities including Bangalore should have a means of public transport, other than those confined to road.  That people invest in personal vehicles, indicates lack of good connectivity through public transport,” he said.

Public transport

An ideal situation, according to Dr Ramachandran, is to have 70 percent of trips by ‘people- made-public-transport’ so as to reduce road congestion and concomitantly increase the speed of BMTC buses.

“The first corridor (33 km) of the metro will not be a fully networked one. The success and reliability of a metro will also be measured by the support network that includes a bus rapid transit (BRT), park and ride and inter-modal linkage. The Delhi Metro realised this and introduced feeder buses for integration. That is why the MuD insists on a comprehensive mobility plan for cities”, he said.

Chartered services

BMTC senior official said, the state-run corporation provides buses for the daily use of its 33 lakh commuters and also promotes use of its buses in the form of chartered services for the corporate sector and educational institutions.

“Apart from providing 236 buses to 48 educational institutions, the BMTC has deputed 590 buses to the corporate sector and PSUs to carry their employees. While we offer the services at Rs 22 per kilometre to factories /corporate houses, they will have to incur at least Rs 25 per km if they use their own buses. Our cost effective packages are lucrative not only to Corporation but also for our consumers” said officials.

Spokesman of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which avails services of 93 BMTC buses per day, says, “We have a huge fleet of our own buses. But, considering the cost of investment, maintenance and salaries to drivers, hiring a bus from BMTC is a better option. This way our social responsibility also contributes to reduction of private transport on roads.”