Public transport in Bengaluru

If you ask anyone in Bengaluru about the biggest challenge they are facing today, it will be...

Well, there are many problems.

Right from- garbage, lack of foot paths, potholes in roads, pathetic traffic problems, inadequate public transport, water problems, high cost of living and the list continues

Here I would like to draw your attention to the traffic problems in Bengaluru.

How do we tackle the imbalance in number of vehicles in road and the area of good quality road?

Either we may have to create new roads and maintain the existing roads in good condition or reduce the number of vehicles on the road.

Since “Srishti” and “Sthithi” are not in our hands (I mean the roads) , lets discuss about “Samhara”, the destruction of number of vehicles plying in the road.

Just look around, you will see lot of cars with one driver-cum-owner.

No, No, No. I am NOT talking about carpooling here.

As we all know, these vehicles snatches extra area on road when ratio calculated with number of passengers to vehicle area.   So to optimize the road usage, we may have to move to public transport.

from google 

Gustavo Petro, Mayor of Bogota, Columbia, rightly said – “A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It's where the rich use public transportation"

So why we are not opting for public transport?

Answer is simple –the transport system in place is not adequate to meet the demand.

What can WE DO?

Most of the companies have their own cab service and some of them don’t have it. Use them! is the simplest answer. But yea, I understand, It is really tough to wake up early morning in refrigerating climate and heading to office is indeed a tough call for many and some may have to stretch extra hours in evening or simply, the cab time does not match with your schedule [as most of them operate in 6-7.30 am time-frame].

What if there is always a bus service from your bus stop to tech park & back?  I mean all the time including peak hours? Will you switch to public transport?

Yes/No ?!

Think about these advantages

• What if you have dedicated seat in bus?

• What if you you can board the bus from your nearest bus stop in morning, any time, based on your preference?

• What if you can board the bus from your tech park in evening?

•  What if you can change point to a new location for a day and board another bus to home (like BMTC)  after your business? 

• You have a mobile app to book a seat in a bus which goes through your area, like you book cab or auto nowadays? 

•  Mobile App notifies you when your bus arrives

•  It gives you flexibility to change boarding time, if you have to stay back in office

•  Pay online – no need to carry change. No rude bus conductors!

What private players like REDBUS/OLA/OTHER can do?
As they are already into this business, they can collect the data from employees online

• About the routes they commute daily.
• About the approximate time-slot they prefer to travel
• Pick up and drop points in main road on-demand basis

What is the advantage if we have an external player?

• Private players need profit and hence they are forced to provide quality service
• As they scale, all companies in Tech parks will be covered and as a result of that number of private cars/bikes on road will reduce drastically
• They are open for suggestions and queries/complaints over phone or online

PS:

• I wrote this keeping Bengaluru in mind but it can be implemented in all cities.
• I don’t want to start this business and I wanted to have this in place, so sharing it and expecting someone like REDBUS/OLA/OTHER to materialize it.