Finding public transport late in the night may not be impossible anymore. Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has bowed to requests by citizens to extend services on select routes till 1 a.m.
BMTC Managing Director Anjum Parvez has directed the corporation’s traffic department to conduct a survey to shortlist the routes. “This exercise is to be completed in 10 days,” said Kumar Pushkar, Director, IT, BMTC. Recently, the corporation had arranged for 20 per cent of its fleet to operate till 11.30 pm.
The BMTC’s decision to extend services till 1 a.m. follows the submission of a petition by ‘change.org’. The online petition to extend services till at least midnight received more than 15,000 signatures.
The petition was initiated by city-based lawyer Shashank Kumar, who met Mr. Parvez earlier this week to submit the same. In addition to the online petition, a survey of 6,800 Bangaloreans conducted by change.org saw 98 per cent of the respondents seeking extension of services. The result of this survey was also handed over to the BMTC.
A release by change.org said Mr. Parvez had assured them that some buses would ply till 1 a.m. on select routes and these services would originate from either Kempegowda Bus Station (KBS) or Shivajinagar. It added that ‘these special buses would operate on a trial basis to see the extent of demand from the public. The MD said that the routes would be changed as per demand. More routes would be added depending on the response’.
Mr. Shashank Kumar is expected to meet the BMTC’s traffic and planning team on Saturday. “The agenda is to figure out the routes. The MD has told us that due to labour norms, the buses will operate from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. We will also discuss whether to deploy the new 36-seater Midi buses or the regular ones,” he said.
