Bengaluru: As BMTC’s ambitious plan to send bus passes straight to their homes has suffered a setback, city students had to spend the entire day on Saturday at the Kempegowda Bus Terminus trying to get hold of their discount passes for this academic year.
This year, for the first time, the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation had asked students to apply online for passes. It received over 3 lakh applications, but 70,000 could not be processed because the students had not filled all the required fields, including college email IDs, phone numbers and photographs.
Ramachandra, a parent, told Deccan Chronicle, “Because of these corrupt officials, our children are struggling to get passes. First, they told us to apply online and now we have been asked to collect it from pass counters. To make matters worse, no official is present at the spot to give us any clarification. Thousands of students have come to Majestic to get their passes.”
Sagar P., a student, said, “Every year, we used to get bus passes by July-end because the previous system of issuing smart cards at major bus stands was good. But this year, it's already September-end and we are still waiting for passes. I reached Majestic at 7 am and I am still waiting in the queue. There is also no confirmation that we will get passes today. I have come all the way from Hanumanthanagar and I have spent the entire day here.”
BMTC has set up 15 counters at the Majestic Bus Terminus. A senior BMTC official said that majority of the applications could not be processed because of the issue with photos. “There is no problem with the online process, as many students have received their passes at their doorstep. But some students, instead of uploading their passport-size photos, have linked photos taken with their family members, celebrities and even full-size photos. We have not been able to generate passes with such photos. For such students, we have made arrangements to issue passes at Majestic,” he said.
Officials said that around 5,000 students visited the Kempegowda Bus Terminus on Saturday. To smoothen the process, the BMTC has asked students to enroll their names and numbers on the website and to get the date and time to visit the bus station to get passes. Every day, 3,500 passes will be issued at the 15 counters. To clear the rush, BMTC is planning to open counters at two Shantinagar and Shivajinagar bus stands too.
