Congestion woes: Bangalore to add 10K buses over 5 yrs

By Roshni Menon, CNBC-TV18

Stuck in a traffic jam in Bangalore? It may just ease up!  The city is gearing up for over 10,000 buses in the next 5 years.

Get set to see more of these red giants on the streets. The BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation) has decided to tackle congestion head on and introduce more passenger and eco-friendly buses. The 240 Volvo buses it has ordered will start plying on roads by the year-end. And that's not all…

Upendra Tripathy, MD, BMTC said  they would be buying 200 Vajra or Volvo buses and an additional 800 buses would be tendered. For the airport they are planning to get 40 buses and they would also build around 400 buses in house. All in all, they are planning for about 1,400 buses so this year the net addition will be 1,000 buses.

The BMTC already has a fleet size of 5,000 buses, which they say is the largest in the country. It has invited other bus builders to test their products in Bangalore and plans to have 10,000 buses on the road by 2012. This, it hopes, will lure more two-wheeler owners to switch to public transport.

Upendra Tripathy said that "The philosophy is that instead of people waiting for buses, the buses must wait for the people. If we do that, it will work."

Bangalore adds over a lakh vehicles a month and most roads carry more than double their capacity. While experts are hailing the move, commuters are excited too.

According to a study conducted by BMTC, over 70% of passengers traveling by Volvo buses had switched over from cars and two-wheelers. And it is the comfort factor that prompted them to do so.

Will this move help in decongesting Bangalore? We'll have to wait and see. But one thing is certain, it is more comfortable than being stuck at the wheel in chock-a-block traffic.