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SPEAKERS’ CORNER

SPEAKERS’ CORNER
THE FIRST STEP…

The first Speakers’ Corner was held on 18th July, 2007. It was a success, with over 30 students and young professionals participating. It kicked off with a creative narration of the history of Bangalore City by the CEO of Bangalore WALKS, Mr.Arun Pai. He was accompanied by Mr.Shankar on the guitar with interesting snippets of music and songs on the City which instantly livened up the environment.

This was followed by diverse views and interesting conversations. The audience was extremely receptive and enthusiastic in voicing their opinions. The audience suggested ways in which this platform could be utilized effectively and also acknowledged the value of having such a platform. The variety of topics raised, the interactions, and the overwhelming responses from every participant only vindicated our belief that given a space, the youth are more than willing to engage in the process of public discussion and exchange of ideas. In the coming sessions of Speakers’ Corner, we will try to integrate the suggestions made by the audience and we hope to build an ideal space that will keep this spirit of participation through expression alive among the youth.

SPEAKERS’ CORNER DISCUSSION
Introduction: The session started with an introduction to Speakers’ Corner and the audience took a shot at the Citizen Quotient test!

Guest Speaker: Mr. Arun Pai from Bangalore WALKS spoke to the audience about the city of Bangalore, its history and how it has evolved. The narration was interwoven with interesting snippets of music and short songs on Bangalore City played by his accompanist Shankar on the guitar.

Rules of the session: Swati then explained the significance of a platform like this and the audience voiced their thoughts on what they would like this platform to provide to them. The rules of the session were laid down:
1) Every person would be allowed to talk and is not to be interrupted when he/she speaks
2) Each one uses the mike to speak
3) Time limit of 1 min per person was decided
4) Everyone asked to use their discretion when they speak, to not get personal and speak within reason

Hot Topics! The audience then stated the topics they would like to discuss. The list is below:
Metro, Water problem, Traffic, Times of India/Media, Corruption, Taxes and inflation, Bangalore University, Language fanaticism, Night life curfew, Public Transport, Flyovers.
The Discussion:
The views expressed by the audience are captured below.

  • Bus shelters are absent at bus stops. There are no bus schedules displayed, which makes travel inconvenient.
  • Nameplates on the buses are in Kannada – non-kannadigas can’t read
  • BMTC today is one the highest profit-making public sector agency today with a turn out of Rs.200 crore profit. But, this money is not being utilized to improve public transport.
  • Religious fanatics have forced the bus nameplates changed to Kannada – used to be in English & Kannada earlier.
  • Bus fares are too high, autos are also unaffordable.
  • In Hyderabad, bus numbers & nameplates are in English, Hindi and Urdu – not in the regional language, Telugu. That’s an example we need to follow
  • Bus stops are too far for people to walk up to; sometimes it takes 15 mins just to get to a bus stop.
  • Due to one-ways, many bus shelters have become dysfunctional.
  • Somebody raised a point that if BMTC is making profits and we know this, why isn’t anyone complaining about the situation and demand buses in routes which are not well serviced?
  • Maybe autos charge higher rates because the meter rate is too low. We need to discuss if that can be changed.
  • Why can’t bus schedules, routes with timings be put online? It was suggested to have a phone line dedicated to bus route enquiry.
  • Someone mentioned that autos charge extra fare because they don’t operate enough. Sometimes they wait in airports for upto 4 hours before getting customers. We need to centralize auto system.
  • Auto unions are governed by people who extort money; unions need to be regularized.
  • Why can’t we synchronize buses so that multiple buses playing the same route are not traveling at the same time? This results in the last bus going empty.
  • Bangalore lacks a public transport culture. In Bombay, people wait in the queue to get into the bus unlike Bangalore where one has to physically fight to get in!
  • People are hanging out of buses; this is unsafe.
  • Conductors are too rude to customers.
  • Buses often stop right in on the road, blocking ongoing traffic causing jams. Something needs to be done about this.
  • One of the reasons for poor public transport is because BMTC has monopoly here. No private sector players are allowed – hence no competition.
  • Someone expressed a concern that maybe it was a good culture to have bus nameplates in Kannada – we could preserve our language, people will be forced to learn – but it must be in English for the sake of people coming in from other states.
  • One man stated that an auto complaint number was published in the newspapers and he had used the number and his problem was addressed immediately. This shows that it is the lack of awareness of the people; we are not utilizing the facilities the govt. has provided.
  • Nobody waits in prepaid auto stands; this adds to the problem of higher fares. Citizens need to start following the discipline first.
  • Majority of accidents are caused by buses and autos in Bangalore. We need to look at reducing this trend.
  • One participant mentioned that Bangalore is exploding and our bus system is inadequate; the number of buses BMTC has is far less compared to the need unlike Mumbai and Chennai which have effective transport systems.
  • A student expressed the problem faced by customers to catch a bus. Buses don’t stop for the customers to get on. This can be dangerous.
  • Auto and taxi fares are unaffordable. These need to be revised.

Swati then summarized everyone’s views.

  • Bangalore is expanding is no more the small city it once was. We need a mass transport system.
  • There is a certain social stigma attached to taking buses in Bangalore unlike in other cities. This needs to change. Public transport must become the preferred choice of travel. This will also lessen the number of vehicles on the roads.
  • Private players must be allowed to provide transport to introduce healthy competition. This needs policy changes.
  • We need to integrate all the various forms of public transport and look at providing a door-to-door solution, instead of independent modes of travel.
  • She also explained the drawbacks of the current transport plan in Bangalore and also explained the new plan being proposed.

Conclusion:
We wrapped up by taking feedback from the audience.

Please write in with your view, comments and suggestions at shruti@janaagraha.org or leave a comment below! Your feedback will help us deliver better.
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