The Hindu 06.02.2010

BMTC plans more bus-stands in city

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has ambitious plans to construct bus-stands that offer basic amenities, including drinking water and toilets, bus pass counters and canteens every five km in the city, Transport Minister R. Ashok said here on Tuesday while inaugurating the Bande Maramma Bus Stand at Nagarabhavi 9th Block.

BMTC, which has 46 bus-stands across the city, excluding major bus stations at Majestic, Shivajinagar, Shanthinagar, Mysore Road and Jayanagar, is looking to civic authorities for sanction of land for the purpose.

Work on its 10 travel and transit management centres (TTMCs) is going on a fast pace and soon they will be ready to offer “park and ride” facility.

BMTC’s Board recently decided to construct 10 more such centres on a public-private partnership.

BMTC has redefined commuting by offering comfortable travel through Vajra, Suvarna and JNNURM buses. “The time when one used to hesitate to board a BMTC bus has changed and many are opting for our buses,” the Minister said.

The Bande Maramma Bus Stand, one of the many to be inaugurated recently, has 131 square metres of bus stand and 140 square metres of passenger concourse. The area has toilets, shops, canteen and provision to house ATMs. Mr. Ashok said the land had actually been encroached and the local residents’ welfare association had fought hard to reclaim it. The erstwhile Rajarajeshwarinagar City Municipal Council offered the land free to the Corporation, he noted.

Working with BBMP

BMTC Managing Director Syed Zameer Pasha told The Hindu the corporation was working in close partnership with the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in constructing wayside bus shelters and bus-stands.

The Times of India 05.01.2010

E-City's cycles are yet to hit the road

TNN 5 January 2010, 04:25am IST

BANGALORE: Although more and more people know the benefits of using bicycles, many plans and proposals to make this mode of transport an integral part of their lives just don’t take off.

The concept of ‘EC Bike’ proposed for Electronic City last year is a case in point. This pilot plan aimed for easy mobility at one of Bangalore’s busiest hubs with 10 stations and 500 bicycles. It was complemented with mobile systems and prepaid smartcards.

The planning got closer to the popular ‘Paris Velib’ model of a community bicycle programme. But action on the ground still awaits government nod. The proposal submitted to the government in June 2009 is yet to get grant under the Innovation Fund.

Another challenge is finalization of the bicycle design. The bicycle should be gender-compatible and appealing to all categories of users, and adhere to variations in their physical height.

“We are waiting for funds. The plan is almost ready. Once the pilot experiment is successful, we plan to release the system as open source software so that it can be replicated anywhere in India. This will require zero investment for building the technology,” said Murali, project manager of Ride a Cycle Foundation.

WHY ELECTRONIC CITY?
Planners say there is a huge demand in the area. At least a lakh people commute here daily; majority of them work in the services industry. Approximately, 1,000 people enter this part of the city between 8 am and 9 am, walking an average of 2 km to offices. Smaller companies have no proper transport facilities.

WHY THIS SYSTEM?
This is also known by different names such as Community Bicycle Programme, Yellow Bicycle Programme, White Bicycle Programme, Public Bike or Free Bikes. The reasons for implementing bicycle-sharing systems are as numerous as the forms they take. Bicycles are made available for users who don’t own one.

Recently, and most notably, municipal governments promoted the systems as part of intermodal transportation, allowing people to shift easily from transit to bicycle and back again. Also, community groups have promoted bicycle sharing as a way to make alternatives to motorized travel, hoping to reduce carbon footprint.

These systems can be divided into two general categories: community bike programmes organized by local groups or NGOs, and smart bike projects implemented by municipalities or through PPP, as in the case of Paris’ Velib programme.

The central concept of the systems is free or affordable access to bicycles for city transport. This, to reduce use of automobiles for short trips.