BANGALORE: It’s time to give Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) a report on the strengths and weaknesses of their services and tell them what commuters want. Representatives from different sections of bus users came together on Tuesday and decided this was the way to go in order to make BMTC understand their needs.
“Garment factories are situated on the outskirts of the city and in remote areas. Everybody knows women work in these places and the timings are fixed. We still do not get adequate bus services to reach our homes on time. And frankly, how many times can we talk about sexual harassment by men including conductors. Things need to change,” said a representative of the Garment and Textile Workers Union.
The women also spoke about how after 9 pm men refuse to budge from the seats allotted for women despite the women having to travel the entire distance while standing.
A St Joseph’s College student representing ‘Concern’, an organisation led by students, said that despite repeated appeals the woes of students have only increased.
“As students are pass-holders and they cause revenue loss for BMTC, conductors ill treat us. Several times they do not even stop when we wave out to them. During the peak hours, why aren’t there enough buses for students to take from their homes to the institutions and back? Some times, we can see so many empty buses that pass by but do not stop,” he said.
Led by non-governmental organisation Hasiru Usiru, several other organisations participated in this workshop where commuters shared their experiences on travelling by BMTC and also the problems faced by them.
It was decided that a survey would now be undertaken zone-wise where the commuters would maintain diaries of their travel which would include — the time taken by them to reach their destination and make a note of the number of covered bus shelters and those that aren’t. These were a few things discussed among the others issues.
Hasiru Usiru co-ordinator Vinay Sreenivasa said that detailed questionnaires would be prepared soon and data would be collected including route maps of BMTC plies or if they do not have one, they will have to generate one. “There are so many places where the buses still do not reach and we can help BMTC with this data. We should be looking at completing this exercise in six to eight months,” he said.