Today is Bus Day in Bangalore city. A smart move by, arguably, the smartest bus services providers in India, BMTC. The slogan is simple - Take The Bus! The roads are expected to be free of the clutter due to the lakhs of privately owned vehicles (private cars and bikes) that trod the over 5000 Kilometres of Bangalore's tarred surface everyday! Starting off on the 4th of February, 2010, the BMTC plans to organize such 'Bus Days' on the 4th of every month from now on if the initiative gets a good response from the people of Bangalore and the roads remain relatively trouble free. Additional busses are operating across the city with a high frequency in key areas like Electronic City, etc.
The Bus Day has been hailed by many and everyone is trying to contribute to this initiative by spreading the news. There are thousands of Bangalore's bloggers, Tweeps, Journos who are making people aware of this initiative in their networks. Radio Stations are doing special shows and local news channels are keeping a track of things as well.
BMTC is India's only public road transport service to actually run in profit (The fine collection alone runs in more than Rs. 20 Crore! a year) The revenues collected from the busses plying in Bangalore city alone are higher than that of the busses run in the rest of Karnataka! Some smart thinking and good execution takes the credit and with initiatives like the 'Bus Days' it is sure to attract some attention from other city transport services which can learn a thing a two to give better service for both the people and the environment of the city!
For more information log on to the BMTC website - unlike other Government websites this one is updated regularily and is functional and useful!