The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : BMTC crew not sticking to schedule: students

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 15, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

BMTC crew not sticking to schedule: students

Anil Kumar Sastry

The complaint by APS college students is a pointer

— Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

CROWDED: Are Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses only for ticket-holders?

BANGALORE: Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) officials often make tall claims over BMTC’s corporate social responsibility in terms of offering various concessional passes, including student pass.

However, it would seem that some of the crew of BMTC buses do not believe in this and given a chance, they just dump students by the side of the road and zoom away. The misery being faced by the students of APS Engineering College at Somanahalli on Kanakapura Road is a pointer to this attitude of the crew.

Kanakapura Road also has several other institutions, including City Engineering College, YDIT Engineering College, KSIT Engineering College and Polytechnic, APS Polytechnic and Yeshaswini International School.

Many students board buses at Banashankari. Inadequate bus services are not their concern. There are plenty of BMTC services towards Somanahalli via Kanakapura Road. What the crew resort to is leaving Banashankari well ahead of the scheduled departure time so that few students board the buses.

According to a group of affected students, the journey to Somanahalli, located 22 km from Banashankari, takes around 45 minutes. As the classes at APS Engineering College start at 9 a.m., they arrived at Banashankari around 7.45 a.m. The students claim that as per BMTC schedule, there are nine services between 7.40 a.m. and 8.25 a.m. However, all these buses either leave half an hour before or half an hour later the scheduled time so that no student is able to avail himself of the service.

Schedule

The route number of buses, scheduled departure time and actual departure time, according to the students, are: 213 7.40 a.m., 7.30 a.m.; 211 7.20 a.m., 7.30 a.m., 7.35 a.m., 7.45 a.m., 7.55 a.m., 8.05 a.m., 8.25 a.m., 8.45 a.m.; 213 8.10 a.m., 7.50 a.m.; 213N 8.10 a.m., 7.55 a.m., 8.30 a.m.; 213F 8.15 a.m., 7.50 a.m.; 213L 8 a.m., 8 20 a.m., 8.30 a.m.

They wondered how the traffic controller or the assistant traffic manager at K.R. Market from where most of the services originate, allow these buses to violate the scheduled timing. On the return journey too, the students do not get buses between 1 p.m. and 1.45 p.m., though as per the BMTC timetable, two services are available. They are aghast at the crew’s argument that BMTC does not get any revenue by ferrying pass-holders.

And, to get things set right, the students have resorted to every available means, including agitation, approaching the Sarathi patrol vehicle of BMTC, writing to the chief traffic manager and also the managing director of the corporation.

The students said the services would run as per schedule for a week after they lodged a complaint. Thereafter, the crew resorted to the “usual practice”.

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