First-of-its-kind inter-college competition to promote bus transport

Bengaluru: The Urban Works Institute, along with civil society partners from Bengaluru, has collaborated with The Centre for Sustainability at Ramaiah Institute of Management to launch 'The Bus4us BuzzFest', a first-of-its-kind inter-college competition to engage the youth of the city to share ideas and suggestions to transform the image of buses in Bengaluru.

The launch event was held on Monday, at Ramaiah Institute of Management in the presence of MA Saleem, Additional Director General of Police and Special Commissioner of Police Traffic, Bangalore and Zehera Naseem, IAS, Joint Director (Admin), Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT). Furthermore, Shreya Gadepalli, Founder and Managing Trustee, The UrbanWorks Institute, Professor Dr. Ashish Verma, Convenor, IISC Sustainable Transport (IST) Lab, Dr. Meghna Verma, Head, Centre For Sustainability, Ramaiah Institute of Management, Sharath S R, Manager - Operations, B.PAC, and Satya Sankaran, Bicycle Mayor, Srinivas Alavilli, Friends of BMTC, also attended the event.

Bus4us is a campaign that promotes the use of buses and aims to garner support for a 'State Urban Bus Mission' to improve and augment bus services in cities across the state of Karnataka. Improving the quality of bus services is crucial to encourage more people to use them. By increasing the number of buses, improving the infrastructure for buses, and making the service more convenient for passengers, bus transportation becomes more attractive. Thus, there is a need for more buses, better buses, and faster buses.

Bus4us BuzzFest features a range of contests, including a photography contest, poster-making competition, and social media competitions like reel creation. Any student studying in Bengaluru is eligible to participate in the competition, and they stand a chance to win Rs 25,000 prize money in each category. All submissions for the competition have to be made before 12th February 2023.

Commenting on the Bus4us campaign, Shreya Gadepalli, Founder and Managing Trustee, The UrbanWorks Institute, said, "Buses have been the primary means of transportation for the city of Bengaluru for many years. As the city continues to grow and evolve, it is clear that the BMTC bus service is a sustainable and effective solution to the issue of traffic congestion. A focused bus mission towards improving bus services and transforming the image of buses is the need of the hour. It requires support from key decision-makers. Bus4us is a collaborative initiative to increase the buzz around buses, garner support for the widespread adoption of buses, and make it the preferred mode of transportation in Bengaluru" " added Shreya.

The Director - Academics, Research and Administration, Ramaiah Institute of Management, Dr. Manasa Nagabhushanam said, "We are happy to collaborate with Bus4us campaign to promote sustainable mobility. The involvement of our students in such a campaign will help them develop a sense of responsibility and equips them with the skills and knowledge to be active citizens in the world".

The Head, Centre for Sustainability, Ramaiah Institute of Management, Dr. Meghna Verma said, "At the Centre for Sustainability, we believe that students and educational institutions play a significant role in implementing sustainable solutions that can make our cities more liveable. Besides research, over the last few years, we have introduced many initiatives and organised events that highlight the need for adopting environmentally friendly and sustainable practices to improve our cities."

Bus4us 5-point plan

Double the fleet, double the happiness: A BMTC bus on every route and for every reason-By 2025, BMTC should operate 12,000 buses with increased staff support to meet the travel demands of people in the city.

Affordable and accessible: BMTC - Bengaluru's pocket-friendly public transport service- Make the BMTC bus the most affordable mode of transportation in Bengaluru.

Bus priority lanes for punctuality and predictability: BMTC - Bengaluru's reliable public transport service-Implement a network of 12 dedicated Bus Priority Lanes to increase the reliability of buses among people.

Connecting India's IT city one bus stop at a time: a BMTC bus stop within 10 minutes of walking or cycling-Benglurians can easily reach bus stops within 10 minutes of walking or 10 minutes of cycling.

BMTC bus stop bulletin boards: providing accurate information for seamless and smooth journeys-Bus-related information, such as routes, frequency, bus-stop location, and fares, should be displayed on bus stops to make it accessible to everyone.