With Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA) planning to introduce online booking of seats, travelling in BMTC buses may soon be hassle-free.

Book BMTC bus seats online

With Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA) planning to introduce online booking of seats, travelling in BMTC buses may soon be hassle-free.

The ORRCA will soon send a proposal to BMTC, and a decision on the same is likely soon.

The initiative, the first of its kind, will make travelling in BMTC more comfortable for regular commuters, since they will not need to rush to grab a seat anymore.

"We are going to put forth a proposal to the BMTC. If it is approved, RCN, a city transport solutions provider, will work on it, after which, techies can have their seats reserved for their everyday commute," said Seetharam Vishwanath, general secretary, ORRCA. "We hope that more and more people start using public transport."

The initiative

BMTC's Bus Day which is dedicated to encourage public transport and draws a good number of commuters mainly employees from IT sector, is expected to increase.

To ensure techies' participation beyond just one day, ORRCA is all set to propose the new initiative, which allows passengers to reserve seats of BMTC buses of one's choice to reach offices and back home.

Employees will be able to do so through a website developed by RCN.

The website will show timings of the next bus, and seat number, if they miss the ones they would have reserved.

RCN has volunteered to provide logistical support that includes routing, mapping and reserving seats.
The system will also show Real time information on BMTC bus routes and its buses.

Other services will also be made available for companies and their employees who will register to the service. However, a payment of Rs 2,000 per month has to be made in advance to avail of the service.

Initially, over 2,500 employees are proposed to be roped in for the initiative, which ORRCA feels may be extended in other parts of the city, if it's successful in ORR.

"I had heard of it some time ago," said Syed Zameer Pasha, MD, BMTC. "Any such proposal amounts to a better use of public transport. We haven't received any such proposals so far, though we are open to such proposals."

However, experts are skeptical about it.

IT employees take private vehicles since they can't reach their office on time in BMTC buses," said Prof MN Shrihari, traffic and transport expert.

"BMTC buses should address issues such as punctuality, reliability and dependability aspects. Unless these issues are addressed, we can't get working professionals to BMTC services, whatever the initiative be."

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