I miss my bus rides

It has been three years since I’ve travelled in bus to work. Of course, the office has shifted to the new premises and my home as well. So if I commute by bus, it is going to take atleast one and half hour one side. That’s where my Vespa comes handy and I reach to work in just 50 minutes. But I miss the time where I scanned ET headlines in 15 mins. or dozed off to have some power nap (ha ha at 9 AM).

There is surprisingly no city in India except perhaps Mumbai where even if you don’t have your own vehicle you can still reach your desired destination within stipulated time. Thanks to the knotty network of local trains and BEST buses. There is a Metro in Mumbai now too.

Now just compare Pune or Bangalore with population of more than 60 lakhs to Mumbai. These are the cities well-known on the global map.But their infrastructure, especially the public transportation is in pathetic state.

We want to be labeled as “SMART”. “SMART CITIES” has been the order of the day. Maybe it is too early to judge this but it is not the smartness which is required but it is the primary responsibility of the civic administration to pull up their socks and focus on some basic stuff rather than make it sound like a hyped program .

•  In these cities, the signals are not working most of the times leading to the traffic snarls
• Half of the roads are dug out and are in the status quo since last week or so
• Quantum of buses and frequency is abysmal and routes are even not planned properly. If the key feature of hub and spoke model is possible in airlines, then why can’t be used in the cities for buses.
• Opening up bus service for private companies, and maintaining bus stops can be done by our civic administration. They can charge landing fees to the private operators. This can be learnt from a small town like Dharamshala. I was really surprised and thrilled with the way these dingy buses operated. We can replicate the Dharamshala model in cities like Pune and Bangalore. Yes, the roads and flyovers need to be in place for that. And one more positive part will be that the hegemony of autos will disappear.

Now, does all this require smartness? Is this not common sense?

As the Colombian Mayor once said, "A developed country is not a place where poor have cars. It’s where the rich use public transport."

I still don’t own a car. Should I? I miss those bus rides…but my office marks me half day if I reach late :)