With offices open, commuters want more BMTC buses

Nischith N | NT

With the lifting of Covid curbs, many companies have either scrapped remote work or opted for a hybrid model. With the number of daily office goers on the rise, there is a growing demand to increase the frequency of BMTC buses, especially in the IT corridors.

After a complete halt, except ferrying frontline workers, during the countrywide lockdown in April-May 2020, the transport provider has been running a limited number of services due to low patronage. The two Covid waves and the fear of contracting the virus had kept many from taking public transport.

Now that the footfalls are on the rise, BMTC has gradually increased the services. However, it has not reached the pre-Covid levels and buses are packed beyond capacity during peak hours.

“Most of the IT companies are open as they cancelled its work-from-home option for the employees. So the buses operating to the IT corridor from Banashankari to Electronic City, ITPL, Marathahalli and many other areas, are running not 100 per cent but 200 per cent capacity. Now all these Covid norms have been relaxed, BMTC should plan accordingly to get back to the normal stage,” said Samual David, a tech employee who travels from Banashankari to Silk Board daily.

According to the reports, out of a fleet of 6,731 buses, BMTC is operating only 5,545 buses with 51,131 trips covering 10 lakh kilometres every day. However, as BMTC reduces services to cut down on its losses, many regular commuters are facing difficulties.

“We are planning to operate all 5,400 non-AC buses. We will also operate additional Volvo buses based on demand. The total number of bus operations will reach a high by the next few days,” said a senior official. “The daily passenger revenue has increased day by day, so better operate maximum buses even if it is not making profit... Actually now demand is high as petrol rate is high and people will depend on public transport,” said Sanjay, a regular commuter.