[ambivalent_98]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

A
And it is ridiculous to see there are these “Rolls Royce – Lava Kusha” buses which did not get into the bus lane but just stopped on our lane and picking the passengers who have to now cross the bus lane to get into this bus..

I am surprised with BMTC running huge losses these private buses are allowed to ply and eat into the business of the transport corporation. Their lack of discipline and stop anywhere attitude creates a lot of traffic pile up. Not to mention they are not exactly shining beacons of discipline.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

I am surprised with BMTC running huge losses these private buses are allowed to ply and eat into the business of the transport corporation. Their lack of discipline and stop anywhere attitude creates a lot of traffic pile up. Not to mention they are not exactly shining beacons of discipline.

To the best of my knowledge, in Chennai apart from MTC (Metropolitan Transport Corporation) no other private bus is allowed to operate within city. Correct me if I am wrong.
If what I stated is right, what prevents the govt from flexing its muscles in stopping the private buses from operating within city ?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

what prevents the govt from flexing its muscles in stopping the private buses from operating within city ?

The great lobby! If the authorities really had known how to flex their muscles, we would not only witness absence of Private intra city buses but Madiwala also would have remained a better place to commute late evenings.

The Govt. has made every effort to split bus stations for KSRTC depending on the destinations and that has worked to great extent but the same is not true with Private buses. They continue to choke the most congested areas of our city.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

The Govt. has made every effort to split bus stations for KSRTC depending on the destinations and that has worked to great extent but the same is not true with Private buses. They continue to choke the most congested areas of our city.

It's also the incompetence of some of these organisations that has resulted in the failure of some of the government's ideas - case in point is BMRCL giving KSRTC land for a depot near the defunct NGEF factory (off old Madras Road). After 2-3 years, KSRTC claims they're unable to run operations from this depot and hand over the land back to BMRCL

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

I am surprised with BMTC running huge losses these private buses are allowed to ply and eat into the business of the transport corporation.

BMTC is run with the focus on benefitting BMTC management and BMTC staff. Hence despite being a monopoly and charging highest ticket rate per km in the country, they are in loss.

Yes, BMTC has monopoly rights to run transport service in Bangalore. But private buses can run where BMTC doesn't run service. These private bus operators get a permit to operate service from an outskirt village where BMTC doesn't have service. It is the responsibility of RTO to keep a check on this. Does RTO even care on the license or permit they issue?

BTW these private buses, company cabs provide the peak hour commuting solution. During evening peak hours BMTC buses *vanish* from roads. Possible reasons being BMTC drivers might want to avoid traffic. Or they want to drop the bus to their depot and head home. Whatever small number of buses on road are crowded, with hardly any air in it (let alone place to stand or sit). Earlier, only the back door had foot-boarders, who had just 1 leg thumb finger on the bus . Now even in the front door you will see women hanging on the footboard. In any case, when there are are no BMTC buses, it is these private buses & cabs who provide transport solution and help citizens get to their homes.

[grevvity]

Had a harrowing time commuting from Whitefield to Ecoworld on ORR for the last 3 days. Starting from Kundalahalli till Ecoworld its jam-packed with vehicles barely crawling. Taking almost 1 hour 45 minutes one way to reach office which used to take 40 to 50 minutes. Except for the dedicated bus lane, I do not see anything has changed so I am attributing this road harassment to the bus lane only. Do note that the buses are also stuck in the same traffic without any aid of movement for them either.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

I am surprised with BMTC running huge losses these private buses are allowed to ply and eat into the business of the transport corporation.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

The Govt. has made every effort to split bus stations for KSRTC depending on the destinations and that has worked to great extent but the same is not true with Private buses. They continue to choke the most congested areas of our city.

Originally Posted by msdivy

These private bus operators get a permit to operate service from an outskirt village where BMTC doesn't have service. It is the responsibility of RTO to keep a check on this. Does RTO even care on the license or permit they issue?

It is a surprise for me too, that BMTC is now loss making. At least till 5-6 years back the constant refrain I heard was that BMTC was one of the only state mangaged SRTCs which ran on profit. And KeSRTC was the other entity. BMTC were pioneers in many things; they introduced a lottery system in 1970s which encouraged people to insist on tickets. They also started the kind of premium buses (Pushpak) for people who were willing to pay more. They were also the first to intake Volvo buses into their fleets. They atleast did not believe in the socialist concepts of junk buses for every one. They tied up with IT majors like Infosys.

But looks like the city's haphazard growth also messed up all their plans. They would be unable to run their buses on time, as just like other vehicles they too would get stuck up in the traffic jam. When I used BMTC, I used to track the time tables of a few series of buses. One such series (361C, IIRC) had a bus departing Majestic every 30 mins. But the sad part was that ultimately they all would be one behind the other by the time it reaches Madiwala . And in subsequent stops till EC, they all come in as a convoy.

On the private buses; they are a well entrenched gang. In 1980s-1990s there was this bus operator/business man who had a fleet of such private buses. He played all tricks possible to get permits on city<->out skirts route. Then he also had this hobby of taking loans in the name of his employees (often semi literate folks) buy more buses and default on the loans. He was so successful that he soon graduated to running inter-state buses, and the company still runs.

The private buses made sense when BMTC at one point of time did not even operate buses to areas like Sarjapura, Anekal and Attibele etc. These private buses were the only source of transport then. But today BMTC has depots every where in these areas; but the private bus lobby still seems to get things going their way. And they operate quite brazenly. Drivers and conductors not in uniform, tickets are never issued. Another trick they adopt is to get a bus permit to two distant points (eg: Hosakote <-> Anekal) to which BMTC connectivity is less or non-existant. But with such a permit they are actually going through many trunk routes of BMTC (Anekal<->Chandapura, Chandapura<->Varthur<->Whitefield, K.R Puram<->Hoskote etc.).

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

To the best of my knowledge, in Chennai apart from MTC (Metropolitan Transport Corporation) no other private bus is allowed to operate within city. Correct me if I am wrong.

That was when Kum. J. Jayalalithaa was the CM. After Koyambedu inter-state bus terminal was made functional, orders came in overnight. No more private buses loitering around the city. All will start and terminate at Koyambedu. At times TN is a kingdom where the king's/queen's orders are executed with precision. Chennai MTC also ensured that there is good connectivity to Koyambedu.

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by grevvity

Had a harrowing time commuting from Whitefield to Ecoworld on ORR for the last 3 days. Starting from Kundalahalli till Ecoworld its jam-packed with vehicles barely crawling. Taking almost 1 hour 45 minutes one way to reach office which used to take 40 to 50 minutes. Except for the dedicated bus lane, I do not see anything has changed so I am attributing this road harassment to the bus lane only. Do note that the buses are also stuck in the same traffic without any aid of movement for them either.

Well, that explains. I see less traffic from Ecoworld to HSR in the evening, past 3 days. It used to take 50-60 minutes and it has come down to 40 mins. If it is due to those bollards, then the days are numbered I guess.

[achilles101]

Bus lane on the left lane with bollards on the ORR: http://bengaluru.citizenmatters.in/a...road-orr-38198

My prediction - After a few years it will be a failed experiment like in Delhi ant the auto lane in Bengaluru itself.
These things need to be planned ground up and which the ORR actually had planned with the right most lanes for BRTS. They should have stuck to the planned approach itself with the bus priority lanes on the right most lane.

[grevvity]

Originally Posted by achilles101

Bus lane on the left lane with bollards on the ORR: http://bengaluru.citizenmatters.in/a...road-orr-38198

My prediction - After a few years it will be a failed experiment like in Delhi ant the auto lane in Bengaluru itself.
These things need to be planned ground up and which the ORR actually had planned with the right most lanes for BRTS. They should have stuck to the planned approach itself with the bus priority lanes on the right most lane.

Don't worry. It won't take years to scrap. They have just temporarily erected few bollards and it won't take more than a couple of weeks for authorities to realise their blunder and remove them.

Delhi was a different case since BRT required a complete change in road infrastructure due to which it took a lot of time to remove them.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by raghuram.cg

btw,I am guessing folks from ORR (Mahadevapura & Doddanekkundi) can help - the traffic today towards Marathalli from KR Puram is/was standstill. Any pointers as to why ? I hope its not the "Bollards"

Even half a blocked lane can cause chaos on this stretch. Broken down vehicles, stagnant water in the railway underpass or sometimes just some moron parked at the worst possible spot and waiting for someone or on the phone.

Marathahalli has been worse than usual this week. I join/leave the ORR at Karthik Nagar (ISRO Junction) so skip the mess, but plenty of my team members taking office transport are spending 30-40 mins extra for the few kms between Doddanekundi & Marathahalli, in the afternoon!

I have no idea what happens at rush hour, I'd rather kill myself in one go than go through that.

[SideView]

Heads up Bangaloreans, especially people travelling on ORR

[swissknife]

Originally Posted by SideView

Heads up Bangaloreans, especially people travelling on ORR

While such is quite justified, it is sad the situation is such that people get on to the streets for better streets.

[jkrishnakj]

And is this right to do this on a working day and resulting in the inconvenience to several thousand other people on the roads today.? I have to go to Mahadevapura today and i am already dreading the commute now.

[Sebring]

How come Governments change, but nothing on-ground changes? This is pathetic. Now, we need ask people to click a picture of one good road in Bangalore and post it, not the other way around.

Originally Posted by SideView

Heads up Bangaloreans, especially people travelling on ORR