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From our friends at Praja.
On February 4th, residents of Bangalore would be embarking upon a green initiative by taking the bus to their work. Leaving behind their personal vehicles like cars and motor-bikes at home, they will be eliminating the stress of sitting in traffic jams. The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is campaigning for this day long event with support from the traffic police, Information Technology companies and their employees, and members of Praja.in (a web portal for civic activism).
For the February 4th event, BMTC has selected the two technology corridors of ITPL and Electronics City.
Click on image for a larger view.
Given the response, BMTC has announced that Bus Day will be observed on every first Thursday of every month.
Praja.in members are looking at the Bus Day event to be an eye opener. It will definitely throw open the demand indicators, gaping holes in BMTC operations, systemic apathy for roadside infrastructure like lack of bus stops at right places, skewed planning and execution of TTMCs, pathetic interchange infrastructure, lack of willingness to spend on smarter IT systems for providing real time info on routes and schedules etc.
From Praja.in perspective, the solution for Bangalore’s traffic woes lie in improving public transport, not unnecessary road widening projects. The consensus in Praja community is that most issues of today’s traffic jams can be immediately addressed by targeting ‘low hanging fruits’ for which three organisation need to work in tandem:
- BMTC to go back to their drawing boards and start planning to rationalize their current route operations and schedule. Start providing the basic amenities to their customers – commuters.
- BBMP to start providing support to BMTC by providing the infrastructure on roads like locating the bus stops at right places, and increase ‘walkability’ by having the footpaths cleared of hawkers and encroachments etc.
- Bangalore Traffic Police to support BMTC by according priority for the BMTC bus movements over cars and bikes on Bangalore Roads. Prohibiting private vehicles in some corridors, dedicated bus lanes and priority for Buses at signals and intersections, flyovers and signal free corridors are some of the suggestions.
