To,

Sri Yediyurappa
Chief Minister
Government of Karnataka

and,

Sri Laxman Savadi
Dy Chief Minister and Minister of Transport
Government of Karnataka

BMTC’s Rejuvenation Plan is an opportunity to Rejuvenate Bangalore.

We urge the government to come forward and support the plan fully with adequate institutional and financial arrangements.

Over the past year Bengaluru saw diminished bus operations. People struggled with long wait times, crowded buses and costly commutes during a pandemic. BMTC struggled with low revenues and was unable to provide timely benefits and social welfare to its staff, who are struggling with longer shifts while braving a pandemic. Various measures announced in the previous year, like bus fleet expansions, bus lanes in high density corridors were also halted as the government was unable to provide funds. 

To better this situation and also some of the longstanding needs of commute in Bangalore, BBPV had demanded that the budget make financial allocations for the following:

1. Free travel for women (successfully implemented in Delhi),
2. Prioritising construction of the 12 Bus Priority Lanes promised last year,
3. Expansion of the fleet by at least 3000 buses
4. Viability Gap Funding support (so they aren't majorly dependent on ticket revenues)
5. Development of infrastructure to improve walkability and cycling.

These longstanding demands and solutions will address the mobility needs of lakhs of Bangalorians and contribute to the development and health of the city. It is utterly disappointing that the government did not consider any of these demands, not even fleet expansion and bus priority lanes which it had allocated funds for in the previous budget. 

BMTC’s Bus Rejuvenation Plan

It is refreshing to see that despite the short-sightedness and stubborn neglect of the state government, BMTC is continually striving to improve its services and has come up with a bus rejuvenation plan with a 5 year time frame. 

Longstanding demands and issues addressed: As seen from the news report, the plan factors in some of the long-standing demands of bus commuters and the critical role BMTC can and should play in the larger mobility scenario. Fleet expansion, bus priority lanes, multimodal integration with other sustainable modes such as walking and cycling, better depots, terminals and hubs, passenger information systems and a viability gap funding mechanism are all mentioned as part of the plan.

What’s missing:

1. Conspicuously absent are measures to make BMTC affordable for a wider section of society, especially the urban poor and two-wheeler users. If this is not already part of the agenda, we strongly urge BMTC to identify ‘affordable service for all’ as a key goal of its rejuvenation plan.
2. A majority of Bengaluru’s bus stops do not have bus shelters. It’s not clear whether the rejuvenation plan includes bus shelters at all bus stops.
3. It is indicated that BMTC will use the funds to establish a VGF mechanism, but it’s not clear how. Also unclear is how BMTC alone will achieve multimodal integration with walking, cycling infrastructure or the implementation of bus lanes.
4. Given the scope and scale of the plan, ₹700 crores, the amount BMTC is seeking, does not seem sufficient. Along with the plan, we urge BMTC to share the complete financial requirements for the rejuvenation and how it seeks to finance it. 

Call for public consultation: Only a careful perusal of the rejuvenation plan can show us whether these aspects are being addressed and what more needs to be incorporated into it. To make the plan more comprehensive and reflective of diverse concerns affecting public transport and mobility in the city, we urge BMTC to make the plan public and call for wide public consultation so that commuters, activists and experts can provide their feedback and inputs to strengthen it.

GoK must provide financial and institutional support for the rejuvenation plan

While we appreciate BMTC proactively seeking other sources of funding in the face of the government’s refusal to fund BMTC, we fail to understand why the government is so unwilling to fund a plan that will benefit the public and the city at large! 

Realizing such a rejuvenation plan benefiting the city and its people as a whole is surely not BMTC’s sole responsibility. DULT, BBMP, Traffic police and others have to share the ownership and responsibility. Government must take greater ownership and enable BMTC and other agencies to work together. Twin sides of this responsibility are to:

1. Establishing appropriate institutional arrangements to enable smooth planning and execution across agencies with clear accountability mechanisms.
2. Providing funds so that BMTC is not forced to mortgage public properties under its administration or seek foreign loans, which often come with unknown conditionalities.

Critical role of BMTC and bus based public transport in city’s mobility

Before the pandemic hit, BMTC served a commuter base of 35 lakh daily. Despite the reduced capacity due to the pandemic, 60% of commuters, 20 lakh commuters, have returned to the service. As a comparison, Metro’s ridership was 4.5 lakh before pandemic and 1.5 lakh now, 35% of its previous ridership. BMTC is the mainstay for commuting for a large section of Bangaloreans, especially the urban poor and the working class.

However, BMTC's central role in the city’s mobility is not reflected in the funding it receives. Budgets every year are proof of this, with hardly any funds allocated to BMTC. To once again look at a comparison, the state govt alone has spent 4000+ crores on Phase 1 and is spending another 5000+ crores for Phase 2. It is a travesty that to avail just 700 crores, the BMTC is forced to approach international institutions for loans.

Providing accessible, low-cost mobility is key for people’s well-being and access to a decent living. Given the economic crisis and slow recovery, this need is even more crucial. Affordable and accessible mobility will enable greater access and connection between people, markets, services, businesses, and consumers, leading to economic revival too.

We expect the government to recognise BMTC’s central role in enabling mobility and economic revival in the city and fully support the rejuvenation plan. This is an opportunity to rejuvenate not only BMTC but also the city’s mobility scenario as a whole. Investing in BMTC will give greater results than any other mode in the near-term. Like cities across the world are doing, we urge the government to seize the opportunity and lead Bangalore into a healthier, more sustainable, affordable and liveable future.