I have been wanting to put this down on paper(??? its a blog... stupid, but a phrase is a phrase) since a long time... but you know how life in Bangalore is. Just getting to work in the morning and then reaching home safely after work is in itself too much of an effort. After that, how can I expect myself to sit down with my laptop, think about what I want to write, then turn it into a bunch of meaningful sentences, and type it in? But since I have finally found the inclination to do it, I would like to write about the second most common vehicle on Bangalore's roads - the BMTC bus (the first being an auto). There are no statistics to back up my claim, but who cares. Thats how it looks on the roads. I can safely say that atleast one BMTC bus(lets just call it a BB, in the context of this text), can be found within a distance of 200 metres. And this is true for any time of the day. I was travelling to Majestic(for all my non-Bangalorean readers.. it is the central BMTC bus stand cum KSRTC bus stand cum city railway station cum blah blah blah) on a saturday morning at 6 am. I counted atleast 8 BBs at Hudson circle, all within a radius of some 50 metres. In Pune, at the same time, there would be an equal number of PMT buses, but in the whole of the city..
The way BMTC is managed, is really creditable. Inspite of being a PSU, it has a fully functional website. Haven't checked out the other sections, but I frequently use the interactive timetables and route maps giving information about all BBs. I have rarely had to travel in an auto, since coming here six months back. And for all those who may start uttering the words, "Kannada or local language", I would say it is a non-issue. I cannot read even the numbers of the language. But have still managed to travel to and fro everyday from home to office. Even on weekdays, the best way to explore the city is to take a daily pass (worth only 30 bucks) and take any BB to anywhere. I have been to many places in an around Bangalore, all thanks to a BB.
Another good thing I liked about a BB... It has doors which are opened/closed by the driver. So, even if you wish to travel hanging out of the door, as is the fashon in Pune, you wont be allowed to. In fact, you will be restricted from doing so, not just disallowed. But this is true only about a certain models of BBs. There are some of the doorless kind too, where one can try out his/her spiderman skills.
OK... enough of trying to act like a PR agent for BMTC. Now here comes the reality of the situation. Not that what I have written above is untrue, but this is just the other side of the coin. Until a few days ago, I was fully convinced that there is no connection between a route number and the actual route taken by a BB on a given day. I could have sworn that I have taken a 314B from my place to Shivajinagar. But on digging a bit, I found that this BB goes to Majestic. Looks like I misread the 'B'. And why wouldnt I? When there are multiple boards kept together, some half hidden, and there is an attempt to scrawl something in English over the Kannada letters. I even faced a situation where I had to alight from the BB at the very next stop after boarding it. As usual, I asked the driver whether it goes to Shivajinagar. He nodded his head and I got into the bus. But, the conductor told me that the bus was headed for Majestic. You may be wondering why dont I just memorise the bus routes? Yeah, right.... There are buses with nos 314, 314A, 314B, 314C, 314D... all the way uptil 314R. And this is just one route numeral. There is a series and sub-series from everywhere to everywhere in Bangalore. So, the only way to retain sanity is to get to know some Kannada. And that too, only two patterns "Shivajinagar" and "Majestic/KempeGowda Bus Station". I say patterns, because to learn the whole language would take too much of time. Just learn to recognise whatever is absolutely needed and be done with it.
The ticketing system followed here is a novelty in itself. One will hardly ever get back the exact change immediately. Just scribbling the amount on the back of the ticket is the norm here. You need to be really a smart and brave person, to be able to retrieve the same amount from the conductor later on. Most of the times, people either forget or it is a herculean task to wade through the crowd, reach the conductor, get the change, make sure you have all your belongings and then get down at your destination. A considerable amount of calories are burnt in this process daily (weight watchers.. make a note of this). Another point to be noted, is that there are many types of BBs. The red red ones are slightly costlier but also more comfortable than the blue ones. Then there are some only for pass holders. And obviously, the crowning glory of BMTC - the Vajras - airconditioned volvos with a high level of comfort. One thing that perplexes me is that the fares on the up and down routes are different. The return journey home costs more than the onward journey. Not sure what is the reason behind this, but a wild guess could be the numerous one-ways in Bangalore. Maybe the distance travelled is different and hence the variable price. But, it never seemed to be so. Anyways, Bangalore's roads and traffic are an altogether separate topic.
Here is an interesting incident that happened the other day. This took place while coming back home in the evening. The BB left from Shivajinagar not fully loaded. But after Ulsoor, the rush was so much, that people were literally hanging on to the window bars, not just the doors. It wasnt a very pleasant scene, but what really amused me was the way the conductor managed to disburse tickets. At every stop, he would get down from the front door (the ladies section not being too crowded) and come to the rear. After doing his duties of giving tickets to the ones boarding and loose change to the alighting passesngers, he would again get in from the front door. It was impossible to get to the rear of the bus from the inside owing to the crowd. I would say, there were easily more than a 100 people on the bus that day.
There is more interesting stuff to be told and incidents that keep happening day in and day out. Its a very enlightening experience to travel by a BB and a very tiring business to put it all down. I am surprised that a post I expected not to be more than a few sentences, has actually turned out to be the longest I have written to date...
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