NimBus updates from my field visit!

https://twitter.com/BMTC_BENGALURU/status/1186954032755007488

NimBus is a new brand name from BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation) for buses that operate in the priority bus lane on Outer Ring Road scheduled to start from 1st Nov, 2019! It’s really exciting to see a lot of anticipation among commuters, particularly on Twitter and collaboration among many government organizations and citizen groups on this project.

NOTE: With this post, I want to share some observations from my field visit today.

Infrastructure

I will start with some bad news, the minimum infrastructure required to run dedicated bus lanes is not ready! The bus lane bollards that were installed in the pilot areas have been removed in a week’s time and all that remains of the infrastructure now are yellow lines in small patches along the stretch ☹️

While coming back from KR Puram, I happened to meet a commuter who works in Manyata tech park and lives just 2 stops away; he is truly a lucky one; commutes by BMTC everyday, comes home for lunch in the afternoon, what else do you need in life? He mentioned how the bus lane bollards caused trouble to non-bus commuters because of lack of visibility, awareness and education. I talked to a BMTC official in the pilot area and he mentioned how he would be more confident of a dedicate bus lane on a 4-lane road instead of the 3-lanes on the Outer Ring Road, “It’s just not enough for such a volume of traffic!”

Preparation by BMTC

The amount of preparation BMTC is putting into this is clearly visible, particularly at popular bus stops like Silk Board junction, etc. It starts with getting commuters to wait for busses at the right place and then guide drivers of incoming buses to stop at these places only. The BMTC had employed its Sarathi vehicles fitted with public announcement systems. I enquired the official on duty and he proudly talked about their deployment here from the last 12 days. Since, the dedicated bus lane infrastructure is not ready yet, the buses are being directed to the service lane instead of the 3rd lane in the main carriage way.

There are so many things involved in project like this; one such detail is trimming the trees on the side. Because the left most lane of the carriageway is the chosen one for dedicated lanes, the buses will brush the trees on the footpath at the moment, particularly the AC buses with a outward rear-view mirror. This was something that was done in the pilot area and is required to be done all along the entire stretch.

But, something that made me proud was the positive attitude and optimism in all the BMTC folks I talked to; how they were proud of having an IAS officer at the helm and the knowledgeable engineers who are working tirelessly to make this happen. I would want to take a moment here and say Thank you to everybody involved; it’s truly impressive!

Bus bunching

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_bunching

In public transport, bus bunching refers to a group of two or more buses running along the same route, which were scheduled to be evenly spaced, but instead run in the same place at the same time.

I observed one practical reason why bus bunching can happen for BMTC buses, ticketing. For general buses, there are bus stops where a lot of commuters come aboard. Although a few seconds per commuter, in cumulative that’s a couple of minutes. There are stops like Silk Board where the stage ends and the conductor is forced to issue tickets to all commuters before the next stop. The current solution for some is to wait at the bus stop before departing or go slow to give conductor enough time. Second one is not an option as that would slow all buses behind it, which means bus stops or somewhere along the dedicated bus lane, there should be a provision for buses to overtake each other when required.

Not all buses or bus drivers are alike; some buses like the AC ones go faster in comparison to general ones, some drivers like to drive faster than someone else. With a dedicated bus lane, I am thinking if all buses are forced to go at similar speeds and if that speed is of the slowest one on the line. Will it be so? 🤔 As I am thinking this, 3 AC buses overtake the general bus I am in.

The lucky commuter also mentioned about two instances of car breakdowns during the pilot when the dedicated bus lane was blocked because of this. Buses too will go faulty, incidentally one actually did in the middle of the road near Silk Board. I inquired the driver in the buses and he told me that the engine had an issue and nothing could be done till the mechanic arrives. Bus breakdown will happen, the dedicated bus lane system should incorporate it in it’s design and have mechanics available on call particularly for this stretch.

Incentive to switch

Humans by nature get used to comfort. Once somebody experiences the short term comfort of private vehicles, it’s hard to choose public transport which can have small discomfort in the short run for a larger, collective victory in the long run. We need to collectively think of incentives for commuters, particularly for the short run so that they take the step to commute by public transport whenever & wherever practically possible. With dedicated bus lanes, the incentive could be a shorter commute time on bus in comparison to private vehicles, but what could other invective's be?

It’s here that more public participation, particularly from the IT parks all along the corridor could be transformational. What would it look like if all companies sponsored monthly bus passes for employees who chose to come by public transport. Will that create a network effect and bring more commuters onboard? I talked to a lady bus commuter and she talked about how stressful her commute is sometimes because of the volume of traffic. She told me how dedicated bus lanes will help her by bringing some order & discipline and in the longer term attract more people to public transport.

Next actions

• BMTC & the other stake holders to share learning from pilot project for an open discussion; what worked well, what did not, why, etc
• Without minimal infrastructure, there is no dedicated’ness in the bus lanes; we need them!
• Genuine need for awareness & education, starting with BMTC officials to the general public

I will close with something an official said to me, “Nothing is ever perfect or permanent, we need to find solutions and keep moving forward!” I am personally very excited about the energy and the importance of this project. Onward! 🚀