MGP had recently issued a press release asking the public of Mysore to sent it complaints regarding the city bus service. The response was very good and more than 80 complaints were received. MGP has forwarded to the Divisional Controller, KRSTC a summary of the problems classified into five priorities for convenience.
1. Frequency and Timing Problems: There are too few buses plying many routes which cover schools and colleges and are heavily patronized (Nos. 10, 72, 135 for example). There appear to be too many buses on some routes (such as 116) which can be redeployed on the needed routes. On the routes which have several buses plying, the bus schedules have to be strictly followed to avoid clustering of buses at the same time leading to long waits for the next bus.
2. Introduction of New Routes and Modification of Existing Routes: Some suggestions are: Central Bus Stand to Naidu Nagar via KR Hospital, CBS to Bogadi, circular route buses without going through CBS, buses plying the same route in the return direction also, Anand Nagar to CBS via CGHS hospital, rerouting more buses through Doctors' Corner in Gokulam 3rd Stage, Ekalavyanagar to Metagalli, circular routes in both directions connecting Railway Station, Suburban Bus Stand and CBS.
3. Enforcement of Official Bus-stops: This includes cases of buses not stopping at the designated stops (e.g. St. Philomena's College and Akshay Bhandar), irregular stops at the traffic intersections (e.g. near V.V. Puram Post Office), illegal stops and turns, violating one-way rule in the early/late hours of traffic, awkward parking at stops (e.g. SBS), blocking of regular bus stops by other vehicles and vendors (e.g. P.K. Sanatorium), blocking of traffic by up and down buses stopping next to each other (e.g. Surya Bakery).
4. Need for the Staff to be More People-friendly: There have been complaints of ill-treatment of senior citizens, not helping the ladies and senior citizens to get seats reserved for them, not issuing change, talking on cell phone or with other staff while driving, not using indicators while making turns, sudden braking and stopping in the middle of the road, changing the specified routes (e.g. 119 avoiding Doctors' Corner in Gokulam), etc.
5. Other Issues: There have been complaints about poorly maintained buses, buses with no destination boards or numbers on the side, no timetable at important bus-stops, nonworking electronic systems (ITS), stopping of buses for long durations at the stage ends to issue tickets, lack of good bus shelters at many places, too much delay in the arrival of relief bus at times of breakdown, etc. People have also complained that concessions are given to senior citizens in Volvo and other AC buses in Bengaluru, but the same facility is not available in Mysore.
MGP has suggested that the 1st set of problems can be best solved by conducting periodic scientific surveys of the bus occupancy rates on all routes at various times of the day (including Sundays and holidays). This will help employing the right number of buses on a route and determining the best schedule. The public can also be surveyed periodically to find out if new routes are needed or if the service needs to be improved in any way, i.e., problem sets 2-5. MGP has also recommended that a complaint cell may be established in KSRTC with SMS and E-mail facilities to receive and redress the grievances of the public quickly on the lines of a system operating in the railways.
Prof. B.S. Shankara, Mysore Grahakara Parishat