Buses World News
In brief: Worldwide montly news & informations about Buses, Busmakers, Passengers' and the Transport Industry
PUBLIC TRANSPORT SERVICES * India: Passengers shunning them in Punjab
* Delhi - Government to introduce modern pollution-free buses for commuters
-- In order to improve the public transport system and discourage people from using private vehicles in the national capital, Delhi government will soon introduce modern, comfortable and pollution-free buses for commuters in the city... Government would improve the public transport system in Delhi and for that, it will bring modern and comfortable, pollution-free buses in order to discourage the masses from using private vehicles, Kejriwal said... The CM also urged the children of the school to urge their parents to use public transport in order to save the city from traffic hazards. .. He said that his government is serious towards environment and it is having discussions on environment issues, climate change, change, traffic hazards, air and water pollution, sanitation, greenery and energy conservation...
(Photo: Delhi government will soon introduce modern, comfortable and pollution-free buses for commuters in the city. As the "TATA"/"Marcopolo shown above) -- New Delhi, India - Economic/India Times - 22 Apr, 2015
* Punjab - Travellers shunning roadways' AC buses due to poor service
-- Scorching heat has taken its toll on Punjab roadway's HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) buses, as passengers are shunning them due to faulty air conditioning... Roadways depot in the district has 23 HVAC buses out of which five have been off the roads for the past two days due to technical snags in their AC systems... As per the information, against a total capacity of 57 buses are traveling with only 25 to 30 passengers down from 35 to 40 during the summers of last year... Surprisingly, summers are the peak time for HVAC to earn profits... Sources said that spare parts of HVAC buses are very costly and this fact adds to the delay in repairs as the state transport department has to send a proposal to higher authorities for approval if the expenses incurred are more than `3,000... This has affected long route buses - which constitute most of the buses at the depot - that ply from Jalandhar to Delhi, Chandigarh, Amritsar and Jammu and Kashmir... Moreover, Jalandhar roadways depot has two HVAC buses, which earlier used to connect the city bus stand to Delhi Airport but their destination were changed Delhi ISBT which has resulted in a dip in the number of passengers...
Jatinder Mahal, Jalandhar, India - The Hindustan Times - Apr 21, 2015Labels: public transport India
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY * India
* Maharashtra - Civic bodies yet to finalize tenders for 546 buses sanctioned last year
(Photo: A bus in Mumbai)
Pune,Maharashtra,India -TNN, by Manish Umbrajkar -Sep 23, 2014: -- It has been over a year since the ministry of urban development sanctioned 546 buses for Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, but the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) is yet to finalize the tenders... At a high-level meeting earlier this month, the ministry had said if any city is finding it difficult to procure the vehicles, then the proposed buses would be transferred to other cities in the waiting. A total of 10,000 buses were sanctioned last year by the UPA government in the second phase of funding under JNNURM... A total of 1,991 buses were sanctioned for 12 cities in the state in the second phase. While Pune has been allotted 200 buses, 346 buses have been sanctioned for Pimpri Chinchwad. All these buses will be run by the PMPML, which has been told by the two corporations to complete the tender process. Five various types of buses are being procured by the two municipal corporations... The rise in the cost of the low-floor (900mm) standard size non-AC CNG buses has resulted in the delay for finalizing the tenders, said the state government...Labels: public transport India, public transportation service
ALTERNATIVE FUELS * India / Sweden: Ethanol buses
* Maharashtra - Ethanol-run green bus set for trial runs in Nagpur
(Photo: The ethanol-run bus)
Mumbai,MAH,India -IndiaToday.in -August 23, 2014: -- Nagpur received India's first ethanol-run city passenger transport bus, which has been manufactured by Scania, the Sweden-based commercial vehicle and engine maker, for trial runs on Friday... Scania Commercial Vehicles India Managing Director, Anders Grundstomer, handed over keys of this green bus to Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways, Shipping and Rural Development, Nitin Gadkari... In recent years, Scania has also delivered ethanol buses for commercial service in the UK, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Norway and other countries...Labels: alternative fuels, busmakers news Sweden, public transport India
PASSENGERS TRANSPORT INDUSTRY * India
* Maharashtra - Smart NMMT buses to hit the road within next six months
(Photo: AC Buses from Navi Mumbai)
Mumbai,Maharashtra,India -The Times of India, by Sameera Kapoor Munshi -Jul 26, 2014: -- Within the next six months, travel within the city is set to get comfortable and smart. The 185 buses purchased by Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) for Rs112 crore under the JNNURM scheme, promises commuters not only a comfortable ride but also real time information about bus timings, position and route details. The new buses are to be installed with a brand new software — Intelligent Transportation System (ITS)... This system, which costs Rs 6 crore, will be an upgrade on the existing passenger information system installed on 150 buses in 2009. The current system tells passengers about the route the bus is taking and the expected time it will take...
* Haryana - Bus pass system introduced in three cities
(Photo: Punjab Roadways employees stop CTU buses on Chandigarh-Mohali border)
Chandigarh -The Hindustan Times -July 24, 2014: -- The Haryana government on Thursday announced to introduce pass system for city bus service in Faridabad, Gurgaon and Panchkula... Interacting with news- persons here, state transport minister Aftab Ahmed said that the passes would be issued to travel within municipal limits for non-AC and AC buses on monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and yearly basis...Labels: public transport India
TRANSPORTATION NEWS * India: DTC buses' - PMPML's Strike
700 DTC buses break down every day
New Delhi,India -The Times of India, by Rumu Banerjee -Jun 20, 2014: -- The Delhi Transport Corporation finds itself facing an unprecedented crisis of breakdowns. The corporation has admitted that 600-700 of its buses have been failing every day in the past few weeks - that's roughly one in every six DTC bus on the road and an unheard of breakdown rate of almost 16%... Add to that an average of 33 cluster buses that fail on the road every day and you get a picture of the breakdown epidemic facing the public transport system in Delhi, mainly on account of DTC's aging and inefficient fleet. Officials admit the corporation is so busy repairing its broken vehicles each day that services are hit... The fact that most other DTC buses plying on the roads are headed for scrap-having outlived their life- adds to the problem. Spare-parts for these buses are difficult to come by, thus leading to more break downs...
* Maharashtra - Bus drivers go on strike
(Photo: Pune it seems to have the worst public transport in India)
Pune,Maharashtra,India -The Times of India -Jun 20, 2014: -- About 40 PMPML buses, operated by a private transport operator, were off roads in Pimpri Chinchwad on Thursday following a strike by the drivers. All the buses are from Bhosari depot... PMPML officials, however, said that the bus services were not disrupted as the buses were taken from other depots... Although the reason for the strike is not certain, the drivers claim that they have not received their salaries in the past couple of months. PMPML has over 300 buses operated by different private operators. The transport undertaking pays the operators on the basis of kilometres covered by each bus per day... PMPML officials said that they have no idea whether the drivers would resume work on Friday...Labels: public transport India
PUBLIC TRANSPORT * India
* Punjab - 20 new buses hit city roads
(Photo: Punjab Roadways bus)
Amritsar,Punjab,India -The Hindustan Times -June 9, 2014: -- To further strengthen the local transport system for the convenience of the residents, Punjab local bodies minister Anil Joshi on Sunday flagged off 20 more buses under the city bus service project... With these 20 air-conditioned buses, the number of buses running under this project in the city has gone up to 60. As many as 40 such buses hit the city roads a few months ago... Although the project, which aims to bring a total fleet of 150 buses on the city roads, is far behind the schedule, the increase in the number of buses is going to help the local commuters as well as tourists in a big way...
* Thiruvananthapuram - Bus owners threaten to widen stir
(Photo: Kochi city´s the Vyttila Movility Hub night view)
Kochi,Thiruvananthapuram,India -The Times of India -Jun 8, 2014: -- On the day when Kochi Metro completed one year of launching its construction works, the private bus owners in the city took out a protest march to Kochi Metro Rail Ltd's office, threatening to go on a token strike from June 11 if the metro agency did not address their concerns... Protesting against the apathy in undertaking road and drain relaying works along the metro route, the bus owners under the aegis of Kerala Bus Transport Association demanded that the metro agency should take immediate steps to remove the posts put up by Kerala State Electricity Board and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd along the metro corridor and widen the roads to ensure smooth vehicular movement...
* Pune - PMPML buses targetted again as another controversial post on social networking sites incites people
(Photo: Stone pelting)
Mumbai,India -Agency: DNA -9 June 2014: -- After almost a week of violence and tension, just when the dust was settling and peace was returning to the city, fresh incidents of violence were reported in parts of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad on Sunday after some derogatory post regarding Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar was uploaded on social networking sites... Last week, the city had witnessed violence after some miscreants uploaded derogatory posts regarding Shivaji Maharaj and Bal Thackeray on social networking sites... Around 1,300 PMPML buses operate on a daily basis. However, on Sunday, after stone-pelting was reported, only 700 buses were plying... Since 2010, Pune has seen 481 buses damaged during various agitations and protests. This has resulted in a loss of Rs1.75 crore. However, this money has not been recovered from the groups or the people who have been responsible for the incidents...
* Punjab - 2,600 buses off if demands not met
(Photo: AC buses scheduled to ply to various towns of Punjab at the Sector 43 ISBT, Chandigrah, on Tuesday)
Chandigarh,Punjab,India -The Business Standard, by Vijay C Roy -June 9, 2014: -- Reeling under high operational cost, low occupancy and low income, private bus operators in Punjab under the guidance of the Punjab motor union threatened to stop plying about 2,600 buses from July 1 if their demands are not met... The operators demand increase in fare, reduction of value-added tax (VAT) on diesel, reduction in motor vehicle tax, etc... Speaking to Business Standard, the Rajinder Singh Bajwa, secretary of the Punjab motor union, said, "The rise in diesel price has brought the transporters at the brink of disaster. Since January 2013, diesel prices has risen by Rs 10.36 a litre but there were no changes made in the bus fare controlled by the state government. The last revision was done in June 2013 when the bus fare was hiked from 79 paise a km to 83 paise a km. The latest increase in prices have badly hit the transporters and bus operators, in particular. This industry is already facing a slump due to an increase in operational cost, but the latest price has forced people to close down this business. So, in view of rising diesel cost and other costs, we demanded from the state government to increase the fare to 93 paise a km" ...Labels: public transport India
PUBLIC TRANSPORT * Pakistan - India
* Punjab - Demand for more Metro buses
Lahore,Punjab,Pakistan -The Nation, by JANISAR AHMED -June 08, 2014: -- Shortage of metro buses is causing huge discomfort to the commuters, who are forced to queue up in long lines and travel in tightly packed vehicles to the detriment of their health, The Nation explains... Officials in the Metro Bus Service told this newspaper that the average commuter traffic per day is 18,0000 while the number of buses plying on the 27 KM Gajjumata to Shadara route is 64. At every stop, an average of 6000 commuters commute each day... “The existing fleet of buses is not enough for the travellers, which often rises to 2,00000 per day,” the official said... He said that while there are three platforms at each station which are meant for three buses to be used simultaneously, only one of them is in use. Given the number of commuters, these vacant platforms would have to be used which would require at least 40 more buses, he added... Officials told that while a single bus has a capacity for 160 passengers including 39 seats and standing space for 120 persons, an average bus is overloaded by 50 extra passengers. Overcrowding also impacts negatively on the engine of the vehicles, chokes up the ticket offices resulting in long lines of travellers...
* Punjab - Overcrowded buses pose threat to passengers' lives
(Photo: Overcrowded Bus-Ride in Hyderabad, India)
Ludhiana,Punjab,India -The Hindustan Times, by Sumeer Singh -7 June 2014: -- Giving two hoots to the guidelines of the apex court, overcrowded buses continue to ply on the city roads- posing serious threat to the lives of thousands of passengers... The site of travellers hanging outside the doors on footboards and sitting on top of the buses has become a common affair in the city and surprisingly, traffic cops deployed on duty at various light points usually turn a blind eye and act as mute spectators... On visiting one of the busiest roads in the city, Ferozepur road, one can see buses laden with passengers on all sides, thus causing traffic chaos and danger to their lives. Some people say private bus operators, in order to fetch more money, board passengers more than the capacity of the vehicles... District transport officer, Anil Garg, said, "Though we regularly keep a check on over loaded buses and violators are challaned for the offense, we will ensure that more effective measures are taken to stop this practice" ... Labels: public transport India, public transport worldwide
PUBLIC TRANSPORT * India
* India - DTC takes 270 old buses off road, more to be scrapped
(Photo: Old buses stand at Ghaziabad)
New Delhi,India -The Times of India -7 June 2014: -- Delhiites may soon find themselves facing a longer wait to catch a bus as Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has started the process of phasing out its entire fleet of standard-floor or 'yellow' buses even as the national capital grapples with an acute shortage of buses... "From April till date, 270 standard-floor buses have been scrapped and more are set for scrapping as operational costs are very high for these vehicles," said a DTC official speaking on condition of anonymity. With 270 standard-floor buses off the roads, the number of DTC buses has come down to 5,040 from around 5,200 earlier...Labels: public transport India
PUBLIC TRANSPORT * India -
* Chandigarh - Soon, CTU buses willhave women conductors
(Photo: Kalpana Soni, the first female bus driver on the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in Ahmedabad)
Chandigarh,India -The Indian Express News Service -May 31, 2014: -- Around 3,000 candidates, including 1,000 women, had appeared in the exam where, for the first time, 33 per cent seats were reserved for women... The Chandigarh Transport Undertaking buses are all set to have women conductors... As many as 72 women conductors, among a total of 246, will join CTU next month. After a short training spanned across 15 to 30 days, they will start working... Reservation was done to improve the safety and security of women passengers travelling in CTU buses, said Director of Transport T P S Phoolka...Labels: public transport India
PUBLIC TRANSPORT * India - Delhi´s BRT system
* Delhi - A rough road for Bus Rapid Transit systems
(Photo by Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images: City buses in New Delhi stuck in a traffic jam in a bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor)
New Delhi,Delhi,India -e360 Yale, by MIKE IVES -8 May 2014: -- High-speed bus systems in crowded urban areas but the teeming Indian capital of New Delhi has proven to be a vexing challenge... Higher-speed buses did not look noticeably different from regular ones and, after taking on more riders, several types of buses entered a designated mass-transit lane — and then promptly shared it with cars, motorcycles, and a screaming ambulance... New Delhi’s “Bus rapid transit,” or BRT system, it´s an initiative designed to help ease traffic congestion, encourage use of public transportation, and reduce air pollution in this congested capital city of 13.8 million... But Delhi’s six-year-old BRT project has run into numerous snags, including the incursion of cars and other vehicles into the BRT lanes — a development that can defeat the purpose of a system designed to be faster than general traffic. City officials once hoped to create 14 additional BRT corridors, but the system has not expanded beyond its inaugural 3.6-mile stretch... The government has funded $4 billion worth of urban transport projects since 2006 — including roughly $840 million for BRT systems — and more funding is in the pipeline... Labels: public transport India
