Give funding to BMTC, says Bus commuters forum

BENGALURU: Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike (BBPV), a forum of bus commuters, has urged the government to provide financial institutional support to the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation which has been hit by the pandemic.In a Change.org petition addressed to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and Transport Minister Laxman Savadi on Monday, the BBPV reacted to reports of the BMTC’s five-year rejuvenation plan. .

It urged the state government to provide funds to the corporation so that the BMTC is not forced to mortgage public properties to seek loans worth Rs 700 crore from foreign banks which often come with unknown conditionalities.

The petition said that Rs 700 did not seem sufficient for the scope and scale of the BMTC’s plan, and demanded that BMTC make its complete financial requirements and how it plans to finance it public.“Conspicuously absent are measures to make BMTC affordable for a wider section of society, especially the urban poor and two-wheeler users. If this is not already part of the agenda, we strongly urge BMTC to identify ‘affordable service for all’ as a key goal of its rejuvenation plan,” the petition said. 

BBPV said the majority of Bengaluru’s bus stops do not have shelters and that it was not clear if this would be addressed in the rejuvenation plan. The BMTC’s plan suggests the funds will be used to to establish a Viability Gap Funding mechanism, but it is not clear how it will be done. Similarly, the plan was also vague about how BMTC would achieve multimodal integration with walking, cycling infrastructure or the implementation of bus lanes.

They demanded that the plan be made public, and that consultations be held with commuters, activists and experts to strengthen the corporation.