The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has decided to increase the fares on several routes on all its services in the city. The political analysts observed that the proposed rates of BMTC were almost on par with the previous charges of city services run by APSRTC in Hyderabad. While BMTC operates two air conditioned services-A/C Suvarna and Vajra A/C-and differentiates the prices between the two services (since A/C Suvarna is the name given to Tata Marcopolo services and Vajra A/C is the name given to Volvo services), APSRTC predominantly operates Tata Marcopolo services under the name City Sheetal. And apparently the fares of City Sheetal are almost on par with Vajra A/C.  The current rate of Vajra monthly pass (Vajra Friendly) is Rs. 1500 whereas on January 2012, the City Sheetal (Tata Marcopolo) pass rate was Rs. 1600 per month.  Also, currently the day pass of A/C Suvarna is Rs. 50 whereas the previous day pass in non-ac Metro Deluxe run by APSRTC was Rs. 35.

Software employees prefer cabs over buses unlike Bangalore youth:

[Software employees are smart. They will undoubtedly have at least a couple of their friends employed at software giants in Bangalore. So, it's obvious that they compare and contrast the city bus services, the convenience and nonetheless the fares, said observers]. 

While a majority of youngsters and software employees prefer to travel by A/C services run by BMTC, the case is not the same in Hyderabad. Software employees commuting between Hi-Tec city and other places of the city are predominantly depending on private cabs, which will be shuttling between many main centres. When enquired many employees said that since a/c charges are on par or more than what cab drivers charge, they prefer to travel on private vehicles.

Measures to attract youth and employees:

The observers said that APSRTC should take certain measures to ensure that the young employees and other people ignore private vehicles and tilt towards services run by APSRTC. For the same, they suggested certain measures.
•    Like BMTC, there should be a separate corporation for twin city public transport
•    Rates of A/C bus passes should be reduced
•    More number of services should be inducted to ensure that there's no heavy rush
•    Bus pass issuance and renewals should be made online like e-ticket bookings
•    There should be daily pass availability on a/c services too

The observers said that by implementing the above measures, RTC can obviously put a check to private vehicles besides bringing smiles on the faces of scores of employees in twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

(AW Phani)