Chapter 3: Travelling by Bus in Bangalore

In my series on Getting Around in Bangalore, here’s perhaps the oldest form of public transport – the Bus. 

Here’s some history - buses were first launched in Bangalore in 1940 under the branding of Bangalore Transport Company (BTC), to later assume the name of Bangalore Transport Service (BTS) in  1962 and then on to being called Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) in 1997. For many of my generation (in their late 40s), BTS was the standard way of addressing buses. Kannadigas will also fondly recall the alternate full form of (biTTre thirga sikkalla – ask your localite friend for translation!).

For some reason, BMTC (or for that matter BTS or BTC) has never been able to assume the role of being Bangalore’s go-to for public transport. I know many people who have never set foot in a BMTC bus, even though they were born here. But it remains an important cog in the wheel of moving around in Bangalore. 

Of late, I’ve been using buses a lot, especially when coming to the office in the morning. It’s cheap, relatively clean, on time more or less, I usually get a seat and therefore free to read/listen to music/watch Netflix/whatever else. What’s more, bus live movements are published on Google Maps, so it really becomes easy to get information on which bus to board from where. There’s a mobile app, but it’s not very user friendly.

I really like BMTC, but there is huge scope of improvement. Here are my suggestions:

• Go electric (like Pune has). Will reduce pollution big time (both sound and air), and reduce cost, I guess

• Move away from the hub and spoke model (Majestic, Shivajinagar and KR Market). Waste of time and money. Plus, imagine what can be done with the kind of prime real estate BMTC has. Surely, research can be done on routes

• Go cashless. Big loss of revenue for BMTC – many conductors pocket the fare for short distances and conveniently forget to return change.

• Which brings me to an important point – get rid of conductors. Think of it, why need conductors if it’s cashless? But we also need to think of how to re-employ them. Perhaps they are allocated to bus stops to guide people?

• Become profitable. Else, get privatized.

Finally, I appeal to every Bangalorean – ride buses. They’re not as bad you imagine them to be!