Public bus transport policy revision - approach paper

The bus is now beginning to re-establish its position as the primary mode for public transport. And, of course, the importance of public transport is a now a no-brainer. Given this scenario, government monopolies (BMTC & KSRTC) occupying this critical space is an anomaly that cannot be suffered any longer. There's no denying that BMTC has improved its services of recent, and is set to do even better with the roping in of the services of professionals like Prof Ashwin Mahesh of IIM, who has come up with innovations like the Big-10 services, etc. But, whatever, a monopoly has its limitations, and a government one has even bigger limitations. Besides, the task is really huge if the percentage of trips made using public transport has to rise from the present 40 odd to a level of 70 to 80 (like in London, where the near 90% privately-owned bus services record close to 6 million trips/ week-day, compared to the Underground's 3.4 million - check: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_for_London for the sustainable growth of the city. That apart, if innovative ideas like 'Big-10' haven't quite caught on the way they should have, it is largely because of the last-mile connectivity factor. And, 'Shuttle services' for meeting this need are best farmed out to the private sector. Another area where the private sector could readily come in is the high-end services, where anyway the BMTC is bleeding heavily - heck: http://praja.in/en/blog/murali772/2008/06/01/bus-services-different-approach Then, there's also the demand from specific sectors like the IT/ ITES industry, schools, etc, which again are best met by private sector operators. Check: http://praja.in/blog/murali772/2008/09/08/bmtcs-business-oriented-outlook#comment7848 My first exposure to the name TVS was as the bus services provider in the city of Madurai, way back in the 60's. When Socialism of old led to the governments taking over the services, the TVS family moved to other businesses. Later, when the governments realised that they couldn't manage it all by themselves, they once again started allowing entry to the private sector. But, instead of facilitating it through proper policy measures, the Babu's, in order to retain control, invoked the 'license-permit raaj', in the name of revenue augmentation, through Acts like the Stage Carriage Act, Contract Carriage Act, etc, and further classifications like sight-seeing services, tourist services, etc. And, with such a regime reeking of corruption from end to end, the TVS's kept away, leaving the field at the mercy of the Blue-line (of Delhi) kind of operators (and their handlers in the governments), in turn earning the private sector a bad name. For that to change, the 'raaj' has to be dismantled and the entry of reputed players like TVS facilitated, all under the

oversight of a duly constituted and empowered regulatory body. Public bus transport services is too vital an infrastructure sector to be denied the managerial and financial expertise of the Indian corporate sector. Facilitated properly, the scions of Sundaram Iyengar (TVS) will be more than happy to revert to their original business (instead of cluttering up the city roads with their bikes), which will make for a paradigm shift in the quality of bus services, and which alone can save the city from the rapidly increasing instances of automobile log-jam that it is getting its citizens stuck in. If the above argument is accepted, in general, the BMTC can be left to concentrate on the trunk services (Big-10, Big Circle, etc) they are already providing. And, the private sector can be roped in into providing feeder services on the lines of Model-P outlined below. Model-P A 3-yr licence to be given to a single player (service provider - SP for short) in a given area, say Koramangala, with an option to extend his services to adjoining areas like HSR layout (just BDA complex and back), Indiranagar (just BDA complex and back). These will essentially link the trunk services provided by the BMTC. SP will have to start with a minimum of 3 buses, and should add a minimum of another 3 buses within a maximum of 6 months. He can even hire/ lease buses, though none of them should be more than 10 years old during their service life SP can choose his own fare structure, subject to a maximum of Rs 1.5 per km, but allowing for a minimum charge of Rs 4/- per ride. SP can choose his own routings and trip frequencies, though he will be expected to maintain a minimum frequency during off-peak hours (general operation hours being say from 5.30 AM to 11 PM), and on Sundays and holidays. He will be expected to keep the public informed of his schedules, and changes to the same, as and when they are made. Safety of operation and good operational practices will be major criteria in extending the contract beyond the initial 3-yr period.

Coverage of the entire city: Say 6 months down the line, another licencee can be commissioned in say Rajajinagar and adjoining areas, with the terms modified based on the learnings from the Koramangala operations. And, in six months thereafter, the licensing terms can be finetuned, and operationalised in the rest of Bangalore, with Koramangala and Rajajinagar

also coming on board at the time of renewal, if not earlier, depending on the willingness of the licencee to agree to revised terms, whatever. These are going to be monopolies (atleast as envisaged now), which should address the phobia amongst many people against private operators, and quite righty so, given their rash ways in a competitive environment. Here the competition will come from comparisons of the performances by the regulator as well as the public across the license areas/ districts. Praja can perhaps build a suitable platform for rating the services according to various criteria on an ongoing basis. Additional references: 1) http://praja.in/en/~bangalore/blog/murali772/2008/12/20/bangalore-traffic-problemssolutions#comment-10460 2) http://praja.in/en/blog/silkboard/2009/09/20/big10-concept-circle-routes-arehere#comment-17407 Muralidhar Rao 2nd Aug, 11