Guest column: Existing services in shambles, improve them before adding new ones'
Instead of adding newer features, BMTC needs to clean up the existing ones. We are not averse to investment, but the basics need to be taken care of first. The existing features of the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) need to be improved before it spends on introducing more.
Volvos, for instance, are in a bad shape, breaking down or left in depots for repair. When this is pointed out, the BMTC says it does not have the required funds. Yet it has the money for fancy stuff like display boards with real time information. Maintenance is more important than new investments. Also, where has the money from the old investments gone? Is there any account of it? Before proceeding to the next project, you need to account for the old ones and make the current functional as only this will improve quality of service and increase profits.
Usually such projects don’t see the light of the day because they are only showcased for an election year and even if they do, they don't achieve the desired results owing to corruption. The money is knocked off somewhere along the way. This mentality of adding new features merely to show off needs to change and instead a genuine effort should be made to improve the infrastructure we have.
When the BMTC spends on facilities, it must maintain them too and attract more commuters to use its service so it can boost its revenue. For instance, the BMTC operates on a scheduled route of buses called Form 4, which spells out the time taken from Point A to Point B and the route map of each service. But sadly, this has not been updated since 2005 although the traffic has shot up considerably in this period. The fact that a bus that took 30 minutes to get to its destination in 2005, now takes an hour due to congestion has not been considered at all and the driver is expected get to his destination in the time allotted over a decade ago.
The department must rationalise these routes using its GPS enabled technology as traffic and estimated time of arrival can be tracked accurately through the satellite navigation system.
Narendra Kumar, Member of Nagarika Shakti
