The Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike and Citizens for Bengaluru met the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday, demanding Bus Bhagya in the upcoming State Budget. He listened to our demands on ‘Halve the Fares and Double the Fleet’ and has agreed to consider our demands presented in the memorandum along with ‘Janara Budget Goshti’ conducted yesterday.

With the budget coming up on Wednesday, it is important that the State Government considers our demands so that by encouraging public transport traffic congestion can be eased and air pollution reduced. We believe the Congress government can bring significant changes to the city by encouraging ordinary citizens to use buses to commute. Buses are not just for commuting from one place to another, but helps individuals to access education, livelihood and healthcare and ensures dignity and safety of all sections of the society.

Since 2011, the diesel prices have increased between 31-34 per cent, whereas bus fares have increased between 25-77 per cent. The State Government has stated that they will buy 3,000 more buses, but this is insufficient for a city like Bangalore, where of the 3,000, 1,000 buses will be decommissioned and the rest do not add up to a significant number of buses, given the demand for bus services. Only by doubling the fleet will the State Government be able to achieve a difference.

There have been several MLAs who have supported the campaign. They are S.R. Vishwanath, S. Muniraju, Dinesh Gundu Rao, K. Gopalaiah, Dr Aswath Narayana, along with Congress MP Prof. Rajeev Gowda who have expressed support to ‘Halving the Fares and Doubling the Fleet’.  Numerous associations, organizations, RWAs also support the Bus Bhagya demand and have written to the CM asking for the same. 

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