I saw in Citizen Matters that I could volunteer for Bus Day this month:
So I’ve registered myself….let’s see what I am asked to do, and what happens! It’s going to be interesting, and I am rather tickled by the concept that "celebrities" cannot take the bus without assistance!
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Stepping off the Thirumangalam metro at 6.45 pm, the train ride seemed effortless. It was cool, fast, and on time, taking just fifteen minutes from the office. Now comes the hard part. Standing at the station exit, finding a ride home is a struggle, as I switch between three apps to book an auto. The metro feeder bus only runs every 40 minutes and has just left. By the time I reach home, the "fast" metro trip has cost an extra half-hour and ₹120 in surge-priced rides, a last-mile problem the metro itself was built to solve. This is the…
Chennai has long had a tradition of public transport usage, with commuters having the choice of the suburban railway network, Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses operating in the city and the Metro Rail for their daily transit. Despite the government introducing new services recently, especially electric buses, private vehicles numbers have soared and bus ridership has gone down considerably. Last mile connectivity issues, poor coverage in certain areas and the inability of the government to encourage residents to use public transport are major impediments. In fact, private vehicles make up 65 per cent of all motorised transport in the Chennai…
Update: Today I got a call from Girija of BMTC (phone no. 2295 2522) who asked me where (of four locations, including Silk Board, and Electronics City) I’d like to be. Then she told me that East End was also one of the locations, and I have volunteered for that, for the evening shift.
The other two locations were Mekhri Circle and Majestic.
080411 update: Late yesterday, I got an SMS from mobile no. 98865 19061, as follows:
“Please contact Mr Nithin Hegde at 77609 91012 regarding any clarification about bus day tmrw. Pls inform him you are a non-bmtc volunteer. Regards/bmtc team”.
Just now, I called the number and spoke to Mr Nithin Hegde, who asked me how I had got his number, who gave it to me (I explained)…and he said “Namge enu gotthilla” (I don’t know anything)….I’ve been calling the mobile no from which the message came, and I am not able to get through.
I’m probably going to East End by 5pm, see what I can do….
I am wondering what happened after 5PM.Request you to continue the post with your Bus Day experience as volunteer. Thanks
Another update: I did go and spend until 6.30pm there; as far as I could see, no VIP or other notable seemed to come to East End! But it was nice to watch the cross-section of people who DO use the buses regularly, and then I walked to Ranga Shankara to see a play.