Bengaluru Commuters To Suffer As BMTC, Mired In Debt, Cancels 2000 Bus Routes 

Burdened with Rs 850 crore of accumulated losses, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has cancelled 2,000 bus routes in the city, The Economic Times has reported. Bengaluru traffic is infamous throughout the country and rolling back BMTC services could worsen the existing problem.

Official data suggests that 6,143 schedules (full day bus operation) and 2,253 routes have been cut down from April to June this year. The routes that have been cancelled are those that generate low revenues.

“This is being done to ensure buses do not run empty. But the exercise has been taken up with due precaution. We have not withdrawn services in places where the means of access is important”, a BMTC official told ET . BMTC has reduced 2,424 and 2,194 routes in the past two years to bring down its operational costs.

Vinay Sreenivasa of BMTC Bus Commuters Forum told ET , that withdrawal of services would reduce faith of public in the system. He added that the city would be doomed if BMTC continues to cut services as the move would lead to more personal vehicles on the road, worsening traffic and pollution in the city. In the past, BMTC managing director V Ponnuraj had said that new services would be introduced in routes that generate revenue.

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