A golden chance to travel in style

Volvo commuters have a reason to smile! The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation will soon introduce monthly ‘Gold Pass’ for the high-end commuters. They are likely to be priced around Rs 1,700 each, and BMTC MD Upendra Tripathy believes they would definitely work out cheaper than the daily pay and-travel system.

The move, BMTC officials hope, will coax the city commuters into switching over to the Volvo fleet in a significant way. At present, BMTC plies 50 Volvos on 10 routes in the city and around 15,000 people travel by these buses everyday — a large chunk of them being the IT crowd. Introduction of Gold Pass will reduce the daily grind of buying tickets for these commuters, who prefer simplification of things.

A study conducted by the BMTC a few months ago pointed out that nearly 95 per cent of Volvo commuters said the bus service was good. “We just want to enhance the service level in Volvos. We have already increased the number of schedules from 25 to 45 in the last one year. Now, the monthly passes will be another commuter-friendly measure,” an official said.

On complaints regarding low frequency of Volvos, Tripathy said, there were plans to introduce 300 new buses in the coming months. A total of 20 new buses will be added to the Volvo fleet by October-end and that will increase frequency and cover new routes too. With the Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli all set to become functional in April 2008, BMTC plans to introduce 40 Volvo buses on the Bangalore-Devanahalli route. “Monthly passes will definitely attract more commuters and help reduce traffic on this route,” Tripathy said.

This apart, the BMTC also plans to increase compensation payable in case of fatal accidents to Rs 10 lakh for gold pass holders.

PASSENGER STATS

Just swipe for a smart journey

Bangalore: Rechargeable multi utility ‘smart cards’ along the lines of debit cards will be introduced by the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) shortly.

Commuters can now ‘swipe in’ to travel in buses. However, conductors will issue tickets to those who do not opt for these cards.

Transport minister N Cheluvarayaswamy told reporters here on Friday that the new initiative will help commuters who purchase daily and monthly passes for their travel.

State-owned Karnataka Electronics Development Corporation (KEONICS) is in talks with a nationalised bank to convert these smart cards into debit cards. “This will enable the holder to pay public utility bills even at bus stations,’’ Cheluvarayaswamy said.

Priced at Rs 65 per card, the BMTC plans to issue about 10,000 cards in the first phase.