The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : BMTC getting ready to provide 24-hour service to new airport

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Friday, Mar 07, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

BMTC getting ready to provide 24-hour service to new airport

Anil Kumar Sastry

It will showcase its fleet of 40 coaches when Prime Minister arrives

BANGALORE: The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) will leave no stone unturned to make its round-the-clock Bangalore International Airport Special (BIAS) services a success even as March 30, the D-Day, is fast approaching.

When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrives at the new airport for its inauguration on March 30, BMTC will showcase its fleet of 40 BIAS Vajra (Volvo) coaches which sport attractive designs of aircraft on them.

The corporation has decided to install Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment on all 140 BIAS vehicles for online tracking of their movement.

Panels displaying real-time passenger information (regarding arrival of buses) at all 116 wayside bus stops en route the airport will also be in place. According to a rough estimate, 20 per cent (nearly 5,500 a day) of domestic and international passengers are expected to use BIAS services.

However, BMTC will alter the frequency and the number of coaches depending upon the ground realities.

“Even if we incur losses initially, we do not mind. Money is not an issue. It is the question of our reputation,” BMTC Managing Director Upendra Tripathy reportedly told his senior officers at a review meeting here on Wednesday.

The meeting was attended among others by Director (Security and Vigilance) P.S. Sandhu, Chief Traffic Managers (CTMs) Dastagir Sharief (Operations) and K.S. Vishwanath (Commercial), Chief Accounts Officer S. Padmanabhan, Controller of Stores Channabasappa and Chief Mechanical Engineer B. Mukkanna.

A committee headed by Mr. Sandhu and comprising the CTMs will review BIAS service on a daily basis.

Mr. Tripathy directed the CTM (O) to immediately begin trial runs on all eight identified routes to the airport with GPS-fitted buses so as to ascertain the travel time during peak hours.

Of the 140 BIAS services, 40 will be Vajra (Volvo) coaches and 100 will be specially designed Suvarna coaches.

While the corporation will get all the Vajra coaches by the month-end, it will get only 30 Suvarna coaches by that time. The shortage will be met by brand new Parisara Vahini coaches till all Suvarna coaches are received.

The minimum fare in Vajra service will be Rs. 80 (between Hebbal and Airport) and the maximum will be Rs. 200 (between Electronic City and Airport). On the other hand, fares in Suvarna coaches will be approximately Rs. 1.50 a km.

All these coaches are specially designed to accommodate passengers as well as their baggage.

Hebbal, where BMTC intends to build a state-of-the-art Travel Transit Management Centre (TTMC), will act as a funnel feeding and receiving BIAS services to and from the new Airport. From Hebbal, the corporation will operate Vajra services at a frequency of 20 minutes whereas from other parts of the city, the frequency ranges from 30 minutes to 45 minutes.

Though the corporation had demanded allotment of at least 15 bays at the airport for BIAS services, Bangalore International Airport Ltd., (BIAL) has allotted only 10. This, Mr. Tripathy said, will be taken up with BIAL authorities.

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