BMTC

Tomorrow, BMTC’s bus priority lane (BPL) will be fully operational on a 27-km stretch of Outer Ring Road (ORR), from Swami Vivekananda Road to Silk Board. The project was to be launched on November 1st, but was postponed to 15th, as BBMP was unable to complete the infrastructure work due to rains. There is much optimism about the project, but it has strategic and planning issues that should have been addressed beforehand. In the first part of this series, I look at the strategic problems around BPL. BPL is not contextualised in terms of the city’s transport needs The project…

Public transport in Bengaluru has deteriorated rapidly. Though the government declares magic bullet schemes such as elevated corridors and bus priority lanes, these pop out of thin air without any city-wide planning for transportation. Rather than jumping to ad-hoc solutions, we should first be clear about the problem. At the core of this is how we measure the performance of our transportation. If any public transport agency wants to win over the public as its customers, it will have to consider the following Key Success Factors (KSFs) for mobility, and find optimum solutions. End-to-end connectivity Pickup within 300 m of…

State government has announced its decision to add 6000 buses to the BMTC fleet in a phased manner and to reduce bus fares. This is a huge win for commuters, civil society groups and the city at large. The Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike (BBPV), a collective that advocates for better BMTC services, welcomes this long-awaited reform, and applauds the government and BMTC for the decision. Congratulations, Bengaluru! Decades of road widening, building flyovers and massive mobility infrastructure such as elevated roads and Metro, have only resulted in inadequate provision, increasing cost of public transport as well as traffic congestion. Finally,…

Metro train services will be suspended between RV Road and Yelachenahalli stations from 5 am of 14th November (Thursday) to the whole of 17th November (Sunday). BMRCL is launching viaduct superstructures on the span across the operational Green Line, south of RV Road. This work is part of developing RV Road Metro station as an interchange between the Green Line and the upcoming Electronic City Metro Corridor. The suspension is to facilitate new Metro line construction works to Bommasandra. Normal train services between Nagasandra and Yelachenahalli will be resumed from 5 am of 18 November (Monday). BMTC services available between…

Rains don't fill up "rejuvenated" lakes Though BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) has restored as many as 75 out of the 150 lakes under its purview, most of these remain dry in spite of heavy rains. BBMP officials admitted that lakes cannot depend solely on rainwater. Sewage inflow coupled with the absence of sewage treatment plants (STPs) in the rejuvenated lakes, garbage dumping in the lake bed etc have led to further deterioration of lakes. BBMP officials said that lack of coordination among government agencies and paucity of funds also hampered rejuvenation efforts. Most rejuvenated lakes are now dry except…

It has been a season of ideas - some new, some old - for decongesting Bengaluru roads. The #Cycletowork Fridays was the most recent one. Of course the most talked about idea was the bus priority lane announced by the government in an effort to popularise public transport. The fulcrum here was time-saving for road users - we give you dedicated space so you are not stuck in traffic for hours or have to deal with driving stress. However there is another important element that needs to be worked on, to make public transport more attractive - cost. BMTC fares…

Over 800 'NimBus'es to ply on priority lane ‘NimBus’ or Nimma Bus is the new brand name the BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation) has conferred on buses that would operate in the priority lane on Outer Ring Road. These buses will ply between Silk Board and Baiyappanahalli. ‘Commute better’ would be the tagline of the buses. Complete operations of the NimBus fleet would start on November 1. A BMTC official said that ORR buses will have NimBus stickers for the benefit of passengers. The stickers will be sported by 830 buses, majority of them the 500 series buses. The Corporation…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo1ewshpDqc&feature=youtu.be

BBMP to set up C&D waste processing unit in Kannur BBMP announced it would sign an agreement with the private company Rock Crystal in a couple of days, to set up a construction and demolition (C&D) waste processing unit in Kannur. BBMP's announcement comes after the High Court ordered it to find solutions for solid waste management in two months. The court had threatened to stop new constructions in the city if it didn't. The agreement for the processing plant has been pending since May. The BBMP had written to the Deputy Commissioner, Bangalore Urban, in May, when the agreement was…

You’ve probably heard about BMTC’s 'bus priority lane' pilot project in ORR (Outer Ring Road) by now. Officials are working full-time to set up infrastructure for the project, and are conducting test runs. Speaking to Citizen Matters, KR Puram Traffic Police Inspector Lokesha says they have been asked to deploy police personnel to ensure only buses ply in the priority lanes. "BMTC will gives us details after the pilot runs are completed. We will then deploy personnel depending on the number and frequency of buses," he says. Here are some quick details about this pilot : Starting November 1st, the…