The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has embarked on an ambitious project of giving the city’s bus stops a uniform facelift. Apart from promising advantages to commuters, the civic body is hoping for some benefit from the exercise too — higher advertisement revenue.
BBMP is at present in the process of replacing the old model bus stops with sleek, new bus stops that have slowly starting making their presence felt in the city. BBMP officials said of the approximately 2,000 bus stops recognised by the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) to be remodelled on PPP (public-private partnership) basis, 300 have been transformed by installing the new model bus stops.
Among the features of the new model is adequate illumination, which is expected to be a plus point for commuters as well as BBMP.
“The complaint about the earlier model of bus stops was that they were damaged, ill-maintained, and did not give a good display for advertisements. The new ones are all illuminated. This is why we expect to fetch a good ad tax revenue, though the ad space itself is smaller in the new bus stops,” a senior BBMP official said.
The annual ad revenue generated under the old model was around ₹5 crore. This is expected to go up to ₹10 crore under the new model, despite the ad tax rates remaining the same. The ad tax rates are different for different zones. Space-wise, while the old models had 12 sq m, the new ones have 30 to 40 sq ft.
“The old ones went without maintenance for five to six years, keeping advertisers away. The new ones are being set up on a build-operate-transfer model. So they are bound to maintain the bus stops,” added the official.
But will it solve old problems?
As soon as the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) made the plan to transform bus stops public, the section which will be affected most — the commuters — had one question to ask: will new bus stops be added? Regular BMTC users have a range of complaints, but the predominant one is of the whole lack of bus stops in some places.
“At some places, the ‘bus stop’ is under a tree, or near a garbage dump. It is also nightmarish waiting for a bus when it rains,” said Ramaiah. Members of the Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike have earlier pointed out how there are technically 8,000 bus stops in the city, and barely 2,000 of them have shelters. Another major grouse that regular commuters have is of buses stopping ahead, after or completely skipping designated bus stops. But the BBMP’s present plans tackle none of it.
BBMP is at present in the process of replacing the old model bus stops with sleek, new bus stops that have slowly starting making their presence felt in the city. BBMP officials said of the approximately 2,000 bus stops recognised by the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) to be remodelled on PPP (public-private partnership) basis, 300 have been transformed by installing the new model bus stops.
Among the features of the new model is adequate illumination, which is expected to be a plus point for commuters as well as BBMP.
“The complaint about the earlier model of bus stops was that they were damaged, ill-maintained, and did not give a good display for advertisements. The new ones are all illuminated. This is why we expect to fetch a good ad tax revenue, though the ad space itself is smaller in the new bus stops,” a senior BBMP official said.
The annual ad revenue generated under the old model was around ₹5 crore. This is expected to go up to ₹10 crore under the new model, despite the ad tax rates remaining the same. The ad tax rates are different for different zones. Space-wise, while the old models had 12 sq m, the new ones have 30 to 40 sq ft.
“The old ones went without maintenance for five to six years, keeping advertisers away. The new ones are being set up on a build-operate-transfer model. So they are bound to maintain the bus stops,” added the official.
But will it solve old problems?
As soon as the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) made the plan to transform bus stops public, the section which will be affected most — the commuters — had one question to ask: will new bus stops be added? Regular BMTC users have a range of complaints, but the predominant one is of the whole lack of bus stops in some places.
“At some places, the ‘bus stop’ is under a tree, or near a garbage dump. It is also nightmarish waiting for a bus when it rains,” said Ramaiah. Members of the Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike have earlier pointed out how there are technically 8,000 bus stops in the city, and barely 2,000 of them have shelters. Another major grouse that regular commuters have is of buses stopping ahead, after or completely skipping designated bus stops. But the BBMP’s present plans tackle none of it.