BENGALURU: Bengalureans were happy that the BMTC and KSRTC services were at least resumed partially from Tuesday. But their happiness was short-lived as the BMTC provided only daily, weekly and monthly passes which start at Rs 70. After receiving flak, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is now proposing to reduce it by `20 to `50. Transport Minister Laxman Savadi is said to have proposed a fare of `50 for daily passes. However, the discussion is still ongoing.
Around 2,000 buses had operated in the city and the numbers are expected to double to 4,000 on Thursday. While BMTC has also started trials for QR code scan to pay the tickets through MyBMTC app, only 10 per cent of passengers on Tuesday had used the new initiative. The corporation is also said to be looking at the e-ticketing system, which can eliminate the pass system for now.
The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation has slowly been picking up pace as the number of passengers who have travelled from Kempegowda Bus Stand rose to 7,273 on Wednesday as compared to 6,000 on Tuesday. Buses have been operated to 63 destinations in the state, wherein 789 passengers travelled to Shivamogga in 33 buses — the highest on a single route.
“We are planning to increase the number of buses by 3,000 on Thursday. Districts such as Shivamogga, Raichur, Kalaburagi are in high demand and more buses are likely to operate to those destiantions,” said a KSRTC officer. According to the officer, over 82,000 passengers had travelled in KSRTC buses on Wednesday in over 2,600 buses.
However, passengers are said to have gathered around Kempegowda Bus Stand since 7 am to enquire about departures. “People did gather, but the numbers reduced since buses are only plying until 7 pm and because there is a strict restriction on movement,” an officer said.
Rs 20-50 cut proposed
The BMTC is now proposing to reduce the price of daily, weekly, and monthly passes by Rs 20 to Rs 50.
Transport Minister Laxman Savadi has proposed Rs 50 for daily passes.
36% PEOPLE UNWILLING TO TAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORT NOW: SURVEY
Bengaluru: The Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC), a citizen’s collective, conducted an online survey in May with an aim to focus on Bengaluru, titled ‘Safer Public Transport Systems post the lockdown’. The survey was conducted to understand citizens’ commute options (public or private), anticipation of precautionary measures from public transport operators, and how comfortable citizens will be to use public transport.
According to the survey, 71 per cent of the respondents were users of public transport and 29 per cent were non-public transport users. However, 50 per cent of public transport users prior to lockdown said they will not use public transport for at least three months once the lockdown is relaxed. Of this, 36 per cent are not planning to shift to public transport any time soon. The survey was conducted from May 5 to May 14 with 1,072 respondents. It was divided into segments — behaviour of public transport users post-lockdown and and non-users of public transport, their priority and preventive measures which they will be taking.