Common Bus System a breath of fresh air

IT employees on Outer Ring Road increasingly commuting on shared bus services

The Common Bus System is gaining popularity among IT employees on the Outer Ring Road.

By Shraddha Uchil

BANGALORE (Oct. 13)—The Common Bus System used by IT employees working in companies on the Outer Ring Road has reduced traffic by 7 percent and cut pollution levels along the stretch.

There was a need to come up with a solution to cut down on the use of private transport on the Outer Ring Road, since it was already facing traffic jams due to the construction of flyovers.

It was decided, therefore, that instead of using their private vehicles to get to work, employees from different companies should use a common bus service.

The system was initiated by the Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA) and the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation in February 2011.

Initiative gaining popularity after workers’ initial hesitancy

Initially, employees were not too keen on using the CBS service to travel to work, and it started off with just five BMTC Volvo buses catering only to Intel employees.

Currently, more than 1,000 employees belonging to about 20 companies use the service, which picks them up and drops them back home from work.

“We wanted to see how we can reduce the traffic,” said Vishwanath Seetharam, general secretary of ORRCA. “There is already a 7 percent decrease in the number of cars used on the Outer Ring Road.”

He added that the system was introduced with the view to reduce pollution and also increase the life of the road.

According to Jaipal N., assistant traffic manager (commercial) of BMTC, about 20 BMTC Volvo buses now cater to ORRCA employees.

Employees must buy a special premium pass costing 2,300 to use the service. Although this is expensive compared with a normal BMTC Volvo pass, employees seem not to mind shelling out that much money.

Seetharam said this is because seats are reserved for each employee on the buses, and the passes can be used on regular BMTC Volvo buses as well, though seats in those ones cannot be reserved.

Scheme spreading

It is not only ORRCA that is making an effort to cut down on traffic in the city.

“Employees of Manyata Tech Park in Hebbal have also initiated a similar system, and we have provided them with 50 buses,” said Veeregowda G.N, chief traffic manager (commercial) at BMTC.