Pretty good move! Total Mall on Sarjapura Road has started a bus service to drop people who shop there to their doorstep. The map attached shows the apartment complexes the service is available for. No more need to take your car, and no autowallah headaches. All they need to add is a pickup service at a fee thats redeemable at the Mall.
Showing posts with label bus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bus. Show all posts
BMTC services on from Koramangala to Electronic City
Good Morning! Another feather added to the Forward150 cap.
Our active members again successfully negotiated with BMTC CTMO for the following feeder services. These services are exclusively run upon request from Forward150.
341 H - St John's Hospital to Electronics City via Haralur Road & return
341 Q - St John's Hospital to Electronics City via Hosa Road (Jail Road) & returnI request you to forward this information to all the residents in your locality and spread awareness to make use of these services.
Let us be proud to use public bus services and reduce pollution.
Our active members again successfully negotiated with BMTC CTMO for the following feeder services. These services are exclusively run upon request from Forward150.
341 H - St John's Hospital to Electronics City via Haralur Road & return341 Q - St John's Hospital to Electronics City via Hosa Road (Jail Road) & return
I request you to forward this information to all the residents in your locality and spread awareness to make use of these services.Let us be proud to use public bus services and reduce pollution.
This is awesome - the entire set of people here can now get buses to most places in the City - via St. Johns - even without going to Sarjapura Road. The PDF schedules were attached and there's a bus every 20-40 mins on each route - and together (through slightly different routes thats every 20 mins for sure!).
Thanks BMTC, and thanks Forward 150.
Bangalore's Bus Day Tomorrow
Its Bus Day in Bangalore tomorrow and everyone's encouraged to keep off private transport for a day. Even a fraction of the 35+ Lakh private vehicles staying at home will make a huge difference! Pretty awesome.
However, I have one fear. Often, these well intentioned one off events do little for the cause, and in fact might have the opposite effect. The bus services have grown manifold - indeed their growth has far outstripped the growth in population. Yet there are geographical, time-sensitive stresses on the system. Now imagine that going up by, say, even 15% on a single day because of a 'mobilization' like this. The newbies who dare to try it out tomorrow might be put off buses - wrongly so - for a long long time to come.
Hopefully, BMTC would've factored in the increased traffic to a certain extent, and (I say this only pragmatically) hopefully not too many will hop on all at once. The shift does need to happen, but more persistently, gradually, and permanently.
A few minutes at a bus stop
I stood at the stop near the HSR BDA complex, on the Outer Ring Road, today.
Since I had time, and nobody to speak with, thoughts crossed my head, and I saw many things. Amongst them -
- Damn, soooo many one-person cars. Drivers with the owner do not count.
- That ONE Volvo has as many people as the 40 cars I can see occupying road space from here till wherever!
- Who threw these bus tickets/cigarette packets/wrappers around ? Do we have the slightest right to crib about governance ?
- All this road work is so we can have more people drive in cars alone, and then start needing more road space ? Dumb.
- Bangalore still has lovely weather.
- The traffic and construction dust is killing it though.
- Thank God for the many who take the buses. Esp those who could've otherwise been in cars.
- Hmm, no 'choice' cyclists in the 20 minutes I've been here. Still a tiny minority, obviously. Or they take a better route!
- Why does everyone honk so much when it has absolutely no impact! Frustration, I guess.
Anyhow...
The Big Routes
The Big Circle Buses have quietly started functioning on the ring roads. Here's an updated map describing the routes:
(click to enlarge)Unfortunately, the information dissemination on the routes, schedules etc is still quite lousy. For instance, it seems that the Big10 frequency on Sarjapura Road is higher now, though there's no way of knowing that for sure.
Anyone know the frequency of the Big Circle buses ?
Anyone know the frequency of the Big Circle buses ?
BMTC information
I see a lot of queries wrt BMTC bus services in the analytics for this blog. Thought I'd just provide quick links here for the various things available in a single post.
The BIAS service to BIAL (Bangalore International Airport Limited)
Volvo Buses Across Bangalore
The Big 10s (a map-based one here )
Live Tracking of the Big 10s here. (There's tracking of some of the Volvos as well - check out the dropdown)
The BIAS service to BIAL (Bangalore International Airport Limited)
Volvo Buses Across Bangalore
The Big 10s (a map-based one here )
Live Tracking of the Big 10s here. (There's tracking of some of the Volvos as well - check out the dropdown)
The Big10 is a success!
Some good news at last - the Big10's are beginning to get used and have become operationally viable! BTIS has also added route maps such as the one for the Sarjapura Road one below on its Big-10 Page - including connections to major points from each stop! Pretty cool.
(click on this for a larger view)
Hopefully the Kendra Sariges will start to get popular soon as well. The more that Bangaloreans take to buses, the lesser of a traffic situation we'll have on our hands.
While on that - the frequency of Volvos on the ORR is pretty good - and on the (old) Airport Road its just astounding - you often see 2 within a few seconds of each other! Volvo tickets are also very very affordable now - with the minumum being a 5 then an 8, 10 and so on. No reason left to drive around yourself, find parking, waste fuel....
On my last bus ride to Airport Road - took a Volvo (the driver was real nice and dropped folks off at the base of the Marathahalli bridge after the scheduled stop at Innovative) and then a Big 10 - both conductors were women! Impressive to see a very good representation of the fairer sex in BMTC buses.
(click on this for a larger view)Hopefully the Kendra Sariges will start to get popular soon as well. The more that Bangaloreans take to buses, the lesser of a traffic situation we'll have on our hands.
While on that - the frequency of Volvos on the ORR is pretty good - and on the (old) Airport Road its just astounding - you often see 2 within a few seconds of each other! Volvo tickets are also very very affordable now - with the minumum being a 5 then an 8, 10 and so on. No reason left to drive around yourself, find parking, waste fuel....
On my last bus ride to Airport Road - took a Volvo (the driver was real nice and dropped folks off at the base of the Marathahalli bridge after the scheduled stop at Innovative) and then a Big 10 - both conductors were women! Impressive to see a very good representation of the fairer sex in BMTC buses.
Be The Change : Indus Khaitan rides the bus
[ This is the first one I'm trying to do as part of stories about people who embraced change. ]
Indus is a batchmate from BIT Mesra, an entrepreneur and has recently moved back to Bangalore from the Bay Area. He settled into a huge townhouse, got a car and started rediscovering Bangalore.
I had mentioned to him that I had recently tried using buses again, and had found the BMTC services much better than they used to be and recently, was pleasantly surprised by his complete switch to busing! Over the last week, have met him a couple of times, and he manages to get there by bus each and every time. He waits for a Volvo - and yet has managed to keep his enthusiasm going even as his knowledge of the "inner workings" of the routes, names of stops, passes, etc continues to grow.
I'm impressed with the ease with which he's decided to bus around, and the fact that he's promoting it on Twitter as well!
Here's some answers from the enthusiastic convert himself:
What got u started ?
I always wanted to do bus. But, was scared initially of dust/pollution, people pushing, waiting etc etc. Then I had a scheduling conflict with the family -- They wanted to go somewhere and I had a meeting elsewhere. So, they dropped me at a bus stop and I got a Volvo. Life is better and now I'm on my own busing around. I had the alternative to take autos -- but I hate autos because they're open from both sides and you are sitting next to the tail pipes of other vehicles passing by.
Initial thoughts ?
1. The biggest problem is finding a schedule and the route. The BMTC website, however advanced it maybe, it's still a generation behind.
2. There is a slight chance of getting hit by a passing bike when you are getting-off as the 2 wheelers drive everywhere.
3. Figuring out where the bus would stop was a big pain, coz the bus stop is crowded with people who are getting onto other buses. However, the good part is that driver stops if you wave at him!
Experiment, or becoming a habit ?
Indus is a batchmate from BIT Mesra, an entrepreneur and has recently moved back to Bangalore from the Bay Area. He settled into a huge townhouse, got a car and started rediscovering Bangalore.
I had mentioned to him that I had recently tried using buses again, and had found the BMTC services much better than they used to be and recently, was pleasantly surprised by his complete switch to busing! Over the last week, have met him a couple of times, and he manages to get there by bus each and every time. He waits for a Volvo - and yet has managed to keep his enthusiasm going even as his knowledge of the "inner workings" of the routes, names of stops, passes, etc continues to grow.
I'm impressed with the ease with which he's decided to bus around, and the fact that he's promoting it on Twitter as well!
Here's some answers from the enthusiastic convert himself:
What got u started ?
I always wanted to do bus. But, was scared initially of dust/pollution, people pushing, waiting etc etc. Then I had a scheduling conflict with the family -- They wanted to go somewhere and I had a meeting elsewhere. So, they dropped me at a bus stop and I got a Volvo. Life is better and now I'm on my own busing around. I had the alternative to take autos -- but I hate autos because they're open from both sides and you are sitting next to the tail pipes of other vehicles passing by.
Initial thoughts ?
1. The biggest problem is finding a schedule and the route. The BMTC website, however advanced it maybe, it's still a generation behind.
2. There is a slight chance of getting hit by a passing bike when you are getting-off as the 2 wheelers drive everywhere.
3. Figuring out where the bus would stop was a big pain, coz the bus stop is crowded with people who are getting onto other buses. However, the good part is that driver stops if you wave at him!
Experiment, or becoming a habit ?
Why did u persist ?
I had no option other than a car or an auto. I found that the car is a huge waste of resources for a one person going from a defined point A to point B. Moreover, if you have a driver then you are dependent on his schedule. Moreover, my first few trips were fun -- Also, I was able to chat with random people I met on the bus!
Isn't it painful ? Doesn't it take too much time ?
One may find it painful if he is forced to bus and lacks the enthusiasm. It takes slightly more time if you have to wait for a connection at a bus stop. But, if you carry a GPRS enabled phone and a book in hand, then your waiting time is utilized doing something productive.
What would u like seeing solved ?
1. I would like to see a system route map like this one http://www2.actransit.org/
2. Not all buses have displays -- make it interactive -- auto display of the bus stop/area we are passing by (like the one metro trains have)
3. The GPS system of Volvos are not working because government has not paid the next years subscription fees. Someone needs to fix it.
4. Bus stops need to convey which routes are serviced by them.
5. A lot of morning buses are overcrowded -- I'm not sure whether the govt has a feedback system to increase capacity of those routes during the peak hours.
Why should people do it ?
It's fun, keeps few cars of the road and of course good for the environment.
Tips ? Advice ?
Look at the service related suggestions above. A map is needed desperately to get first timers on board. Lack of information is a major deterrent.
Indus, I wish more people would hop on, stop the excuses and be prepared to make it work. The benefits are huge - lower stress, much lower pollution and congestion, and if enough start doing this, maybe a few will engage with the government for improving things along the lines you've suggested. Hats off dude, and catch you on the next BMTC ride :)
Ride The Bus! CBD Bangalore HOHO Service.
The BMTC has launched a Volvo service in the central business district which connects all the hotspots in 2 circular routes, at a low, convenient fare of 10/- for an all day pass! Just hop on and hop off wherever you need to go. All the major malls, intersections are covered, and you'll get to walk and discover the pleasures of Bangalore's happening zone too.
Thsi service is called the Kendriya Sarige (just ask for KS, eh ?) and you're guaranteed a bus every 5 minutes or so! Another service - the "Big10" (2 routes start today) connects the entire city using regular (10 minute frequency!) buses on the major arterial roads.
Here's a map of the routes and a list of stops on both the Blue line and the Orange line.
I'm very very impressed with Namma BMTC and will definitely make use of Namma Bus :)
Bangalore, do try and not take the car to CBD - ride the bus instead! Saves fuel, pollution, congestion and encourages the city to think of more progressive options. Public transport options have been a chicken and egg story for a while, but BMTC has taken the first steps forward. Now its upto us to use it or lose it.
Update:
The Big10's are starting on 2 routes today - E-City and ITPL. Fromt next week, they'll start on the Sarjapura Road-Viveknagar-Brigade Road route too! Yay - it'll probably pass my office too :)
Bangalore's Traffic Solutions ?
A nice set of slides discussing various obvious ones.
If we don't start thinking NOW, and wake up from the sexy sleek-car-on-a-highway dream and short term convenience-of-a-car-myth, we will choose a very scary future.
Increasing road space is surely not the way to go. A network of smaller sub-cities, fewer long commutes, buses to connect the networks, wayyy more lung space - those are the options to focus on. Even at the cost of a short term pain for car users. Come to think of it, does their pain have any scope for increase ? Its horrible enough as is.
If we don't start thinking NOW, and wake up from the sexy sleek-car-on-a-highway dream and short term convenience-of-a-car-myth, we will choose a very scary future.
Increasing road space is surely not the way to go. A network of smaller sub-cities, fewer long commutes, buses to connect the networks, wayyy more lung space - those are the options to focus on. Even at the cost of a short term pain for car users. Come to think of it, does their pain have any scope for increase ? Its horrible enough as is.
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