Bengaluru: Demand for buses up but BMTC yet to get full fleet back on roads

BENGALURU: Wondering why your waiting time for BMTC buses has increased? With economic activities resuming and offices as well as educational institutions reopening, there is a growing demand for buses but Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is yet to resume full-fledged operations.
BMTC has 6,803 buses (including 90 e-buses) but is operating only 5,635 now.Around the globe, in cities with good bus services, there will be at least 120 buses per lakh population. Using that yardstick, Bengaluru should have 14,000 buses or more.
Of the 1,168 BMTC buses that are operational, 320 are spare/unfit. This means 848 buses are not on city roads because of severe staff shortage and soaring diesel prices. Of those, 498 are Volvo AC buses and others are non-AC ones.
"We are running only 361 of the 859 Volvo AC buses", said a BMTC official. This, despite the demand for Volvo buses increasing after Vajra fares were reduced by up to 34% from December 17, 2021.
Officials said they need at least 5,000 additional staff to run all buses in addition to viability gap funding from the government to reduce operational losses due to soaring diesel prices.
"To operate the existing 5,635 buses itself, there is a shortfall of around 1,500 employees... Unfortunately, employees are even being denied weekly off and are being forced to be on 12-hour duty without additional allowances. Employees are also stressed and exhausted...this cannot continue for long. If we don't run buses, it will affect lakhs of passengers. Staff shortage has resulted in decreased frequency and number of buses on several routes. We need emergency financial support from the state government" an official said.

BMTC has around 24,000 employees. Several employees have retired, some died of Covid-19 and other health issues, and others were dismissed after a 15-day transport strike in April 2021. But there have been no fresh recruitments in the past few years because of the pandemic and the financial crisis.
"We are still struggling to pay salaries. We need financial support from the government to run buses even on loss-making routes as a social obligation", said an official.
BMTC's daily ridership hovers around 25-30 lakh, compared to 36 lakh before Covid-19.
Many regular passengers urged the government to support the transport utility. "The governments in Tamil Nadu and Kerala are supporting their state transport undertakings, but there is no adequate support from our state government for STUs, including BMTC and KSRTC. Public transport is a service and the public will suffer if there are no enough buses, especially during peak hours. Unreliable public transport will shift more people to their own vehicles", said Ramesh Kumar, a passenger from Koramangala.

Officials said high-speed diesel (HSD) price for bulk buyers has touched a record Rs 120.2 a litre. BMTC needs 2.3 lakh litres of HSD a day.
For a non-AC BMTC buses, the average earning per kilometre is Rs 40, but the cost is Rs 65. For AC buses, the earning is Rs 55 and the cost, Rs 85-90.