Ranjani Madhavan

BENGALURU: With IT/BT companies in the city asking their employees to work from home for the next 14 days or so, also people cutting down on travel in the light of the coronavirus outbreak, cab bookings have dropped significantly. Cab drivers say they have seen a drop in rides, especially to and from the tech corridors such as Electronics City, Whitefield, Marathahalli and also from Kempegowda International Airport.

BENGALURU: While the government’s bicycle sharing system Trin Trin is yet to see the light of day in Bengaluru, the increase in popularity of public bicycle sharing (PBS) has expanded to Koramangala and Indiranagar. Six weeks ago, QR code-enabled smart cycles were implemented in Koramangala, and a week ago, in Indiranagar by PEDL. “These areas have a diverse population. Apart from residences, there are several offices and hangout spots that help in maximising the use of cycles. There are around 1,000 cycles in both places,” says Greg Moran, CEO and co-founder of Zoom Car, of which PEDL is a part.

BENGALURU : Bengaluru has attained global infamy for its commuting woes, but if you want to know just how bad the situation really is, consider this: there are actually people willing to change jobs, opting for thinner salary packages, to just have a job closer home and avoid the torture of travelling long distances to and from work. Asha Kumar stays in Hebbal and works in Whitefield. She is seeking a job change as she cannot stand commuting on Outer Ring Road for four-and-a-half hours every day.

BENGALURU: Yeshwanthpur to Hosur train services have been in the news for all the right and wrong reasons in the past few years. Right, because of the increasing awareness by citizens on the available connectivity to the city's IT corridor, and wrong, because of the lack of punctuality, resulting in two 'rail rokos' (halt trains) last year. Regular commuter and railway enthusiast Suhas Narayan Murthy, tells us how a minor track extension at Baiyappanahalli Railway Station can save a maximum of one hour, one-way, for office-goers.

BENGALURU: Every month, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) pays close to Rs 15 lakh to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) council as the tax that is levied on their Volvo bus fares. This amount comes from the commuters’ pockets, for an additional 5 per cent is added to each Volvo bus ticket fare. This makes commute more expensive by 15 to 20 per cent. Though both Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation and Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation are essential public transport services, the latter is exempt from paying GST.

BENGALURU: Piles of paperwork, manual approval for procurement of new buses or spare parts and raising bills — these are some of the many bureaucratic processes Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) aims to get rid of. The corporation is set to go paperless, and is working on creating a Enterprise Resource Planning software (ERP) with the help of an external consultant company. The digital workflow of three departments is being worked on at present- fleet management, inventory — including records of stock and supply, and finances.

BENGALURU: Cycle sharing facilities at Metro stations have gained popularity as last-mile connectivity options. Another result of these cycles available for the public to use is that they serve suburban train users as well. Yulu Cycles, placed near four railway stations in Bengaluru, have inadvertently become first and last-mile connectivity solutions for IT professionals in the tech corridor. Amit Gupta, co-founder and CEO of nine-month-old dockless bicycle sharing startup Yulu, says their strategy was not to activate railway stations, but specific pincodes (areas) in the city. However, they now find a growing population of users being train commuters.

BENGALURU: Within a week or two, four private bicycle sharing operators will receive permits from the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT). The department called for tenders inviting expression of interest in January, 2018, under phase-1 of the Public Bicycle Sharing (PBS) system , costing Rs 80 crore. “Around 11 operators expressed interest earlier this year. Of these, the first four to have completed the due procedures are Pedl, Mobycy, Yulu and Lejonet. They will receive the official permit from us soon,” says Darpan Jain, DULT commissioner

BENGALURU: Footpaths around 26 Metro stations will get a facelift with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) preparing a Detailed Project Report (DPR) to improve access to Metro stations, which is a bid to encourage commuters to walk short distances instead of opting for other modes of transport. Eighty-six km of pavement will be developed once the project takes off.

BENGALURU: The ‘Cycle to Work’ challenge started by Bicycle Mayor Sathya Sankaran, has 69 companies in Bengaluru on board. Launched on September 22, the ‘leaderboard’ section of the Cycle to Work website, tracks the numbers of riders taking cycles to their workplace and the number of rides. “The leaderboard is a kind of score board that gamifies the whole process. This attracts white collar employees to cycle to work. The number of kilometres do not matter — we track the number of riders and their rides to and fro work only,” said Sathya.

BENGALURU : Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) of South Western Railway's (SWR) Bengaluru division, RS Saxena, has proposed the construction of rail overbridges to the Karnataka Government. These bridges have been proposed on the Baiyappanahalli to Hosur railway section, on a cost-sharing basis. The estimated cost of eliminating 15 manned level crossings comes to Rs 402.51 crore in total, with a proposed sharing of Rs 147.39 crore by railways and Rs 255.12 crore by state. The letter addressed by

BENGALURU: South Western Railway is reviewing its project of automatic signalling between Cantonment and Whitefield stations. It was sanctioned in the pink book (railway’s budget) earlier this year for Rs 12 crore. The system will help with running of more trains, and help avoid delay in operations, according to experts. A railway official on the condition of anonymity said, “We are reconsidering whether automatic signalling can be carried out or not, as once the quadrupling work starts, the railway cables may get cut. Right now, the work is in suspension and the decision will be taken within two weeks by the general manager.”

BENGALURU: South Western Railways Bengaluru division has put forward a proposal to the government, to eliminate 35 manned level crossings in Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural and BBMP limits. Earlier on October 23, City Express reported about the Divisional Railway manager, RS Saxena, writing to the Karnataka government with a proposal to replace 15 manned level crossings with rail over bridges on Baiyappanahalli-Hosur railway line. The state, in response, asked for the total number of level crossings that need to be eliminated in Bengaluru region.

BENGALURU : The digital Namma Pass launched by Bangalore Metropiltan Transport Corporation (BMTC) in co-ordination with an IIM-B incubated startup called Series-5 Labs back June, currently provides Volvo day passes. However, in about a month, they will expand their services to include monthly non-AC and AC Vajra bus passes too. “We will soon offer an option to buy the monthly passes for non-AC and AC buses on the Namma Pass website. They have to upload a picture or selfie of themselves, to create a pass and pay for it through PhonePe's e-wallet,” said Saro Chandra Bhooshan, CEO of Series-5.

BENGALURU: Within a few weeks, women passengers landing at the Bengaluru International Airport (BIAL) will be able to opt for government-operated cabs for women, and by women. Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) will soon start a first-of-its-kind pink cab service exclusively for women passengers, which will feature women drivers, in order to ensure safety. “We have given approval for registration of women drivers to the existing KSTDC airport cabs fleet. Fifteen women have applied already and we have given initial clearance. It is still in process and we are checking their vehicles. Women passengers will be ferried between their homes and the airport,” said Kumar Pushkar, Managing Director, KSTDC.

BENGALURU : In a move that is expected to bring much cheer to railway commuters, be it suburban train users or long distance travellers, South Western Railway (SWR) will complete its automatic signalling project soon. The stretch between Cantonment and Whitefield was set to get automatic signalling system when it was sanctioned in this year's Railway budget. On October 27, CE had reported that the project was put on hold because of quadrapling, which was started on the same section, could result in cables for signalling being cut. This decision had not go down well with train commuters.

BENGALURU: The state's Transport Department has seen a hike in the number of licences suspended for drunk driving since last year. Majority of the cases are from Bengaluru, according to transport officials. From 2017 to 2018, 32,765 driving licences have been suspended in the state for drunken driving, as per the department's annual report. In addition to this, 8,369 licences were suspended for other offences. This figure is a massive jump from the 14,881 licences that were suspended for drunk driving in the financial year 2016-2017.

BENGALURU: Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is nearly done working on a detailed project report (DPR) for the Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) project. The Rs 99.2 crore project involves improving conditions of footpaths and making bicycle tracks in 112.6 km of the city. The Directorate of Urban land Transport (DULT) did the initial feasibility study a year ago, and identified various pockets that require pedestrian-friendly access in Bengaluru.

BENGALURU: Drivers, who flocked in large numbers to join app-based cab companies owing to the promises of incentives, are now leaving their jobs, steeped in debt and losses. Cab owners, drivers and unions are observing an increase in the number of people who have left their jobs from companies such as Ola and Uber, due to lack of incentives. Ramesh Gowda, member of Bruhat Bengaluru Taxi Driver's Union, said, “In the past year, 200 members from our union have left Ola and Uber. They would get incentives earlier, but don't now."

BENGALURU: Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is gearing up to make smart cards available to all Volvo bus commuters. The long wait for this facility will finally come to an end for the 25,000 to 35,000 odd Volvo commuters. Besides being a step towards seamless travel for AC bus commuters, these cards will also have additional benefits for consumers. Chief systems engineer Nagendra explained that when a commuter begins his or her journey, they can swipe the open loop card on the electronic ticketing machine (ETM) and the money will automatically get deducted.