Most BMTC bus stops lack schedule boards: Commuters

Rachana Ramesh | NT

Bengaluru:

“BBMP and B M T C have clearly f ailed in one aspect – putting up information about bus schedules at bus stops. All over the world, city bus services do this routinely. But between the two of them, they have not been able to crack this most basic part of a public bus system,” said Ashwin Mahesh, a prominent urban expert from the city on his Twitter, leaving many other commuters who choose to travel by the bus to resonate with him.

While most of the bus stops in the Central Business District (CBD) have schedule boards along with route details featured, as one starts to reach further portions of the city, they begin to vanish. “This problem can be fixed in less than a fortnight, but only if there is intent to do it. The information exists, it costs hardly anything to put it up.

But as long as BBMP thinks the first priority at a bus shelter is advertising it will keep missing the bus,” Mahesh added. Public transport activists have consistently complained that the lack of a reliable forum, where one can access the schedules and routes of the buses, is one of the major reasons why the BMTC receives a poor footfall.

While the BMTC is working on rolling out a mobile application through which commuters can see the live movement of buses, they can also update the bus schedules in bus stops across the city for those who may not have digital access. “After the pandemic, we have not yet been able to stabilise our timetable. We have been revising our schedules every day.

Once we have a stable schedule, we will work on putting them across the bus stops,” said Surya Sen, IT Director, BMTC. “We are also going to instal digital boards in the bus stops soon,” he added. However, commuters are skeptical about the promise. “The BMTC might put out physical copies of schedules in bus stops or even come through with their plans on installing digital boards.

However, the issue that needs most attention is the coordination with the BBMP to maintain these features. Most bus stops currently are in a bad state or even worse, non-existent,” said Kalpana, a regular commuter. While the BMTC is responsible for setting up these bus stops, maintenance comes under the jurisdiction of BBMP, the city’s municipal body