Fearing that they would not be allowed to commute in city buses from Monday, thousands of students gathered at Majestic bus stand to collect their passes on Saturday. Students stood on the footpath and platforms for hours while Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) officials and the police struggled to manage the crowd.
After seeing the mayhem at the bus station, the corporation decided to extend the deadline and allow students to travel in BMTC buses without passes till October 31. Those who are yet to receive smart cards can produce their school/college IDs along with latest fee paid receipts to commute between their institutions and homes. More than 4,500 passes were issued at 16 counters that were operational at Majestic on Saturday.
As the the crowd started to swell, BMTC officials started asking some of the students to go to Shantinagar to collect their passes. They opened counters at the stand there in the hope that it would ease the burden at Majestic bus stand.
“My friends told me that those who do not have bus passes cannot travel by bus from Monday. I had applied online and even paid the money but my ID was not generated. So I came here to get the pass. It took me more than two hours to get it,” said Lakshmiprasad, an engineering student.
Until last year, students were issued passes at counters after they submitted the required documents. This year, the BMTC introduced an online system which was mandatory for every student. However, thousands of applications still remain unprocessed with the BMTC citing various reasons such as colleges failing to authenticate documents and students uploading photos with wrong dimensions.
Another student, Ananya, said that she had never experienced so much trouble to get a student bus pass. “The BMTC should have made online application optional. Fearing that the corporation would not to allow students to travel by bus from Monday, I missed my class.”
Rajashekara, a parent who had accompanied her daughter, said, “ I came with my daughter. The corporation should have continued the old system of issuing passes.”
Online appointment
The corporation is contemplating introducing online appointments for students, so as to be able manage the crowd in the coming days. The BMTC estimates that 50,000 to 70,000 students may be waiting for bus passes.
K.R. Vishwanath, Chief Traffic Manager (Operations), said, “The project has been introduced to deliver passes at residences. There are various factors like colleges not validating applications, and students not uploading photos for the delay. We are planning to issue online appointments to students like passport offices do.”
