Namma Metro is here, and my, is it the talk of the town or what? As a weird coincidence of sorts, I had to head out of Benglur on the night of Oct 20, 2011 - same day when Namma Metro was officially launched for public use - flying from one valley to another.. from one Metro town to another. In this context, here's a roll-out of my observations on our Metro in comparison with the Metro running in another Valley on the other side of the planet!
Upon a quick survey of public transport in two Silicon Valleys, we find on one hand, VTA, the authority that runs a hybrid public transit system connecting multiple south Californian suburbs, and on the other hand two bodies namely BMTC & BMRC together connecting our own valley, Benglur. Standing among various differences between these geographies and organizations is the common factor that urban public transit systems are localized-by-design, in that their target audience and the traits expected of their operation are all locally attributable. These transport systems operate within smaller limits, earmark a limited demography as beneficiaries, and are structured to assist the lifestyles of the local people.
Similarities aside, there's a marked difference one finds in the nature of operation & maintenance of these transport bodies, a difference bearing in the way these bodies perceive commuters, and the bases on which they appear to be taking operational decisions. These differences could be in taking budgetary decisions, in publishing them, or using the smallest opportunity to thank people for their tax money. The VTA (and its like) seem to be voluntarily ahead with an upper hand compared to their Benglur counterparts, who in turn not only fail in attributing their existence & operation to public tax money, but also display clear aloofness in their publications (some really vital documents not in Kannada, the lingua-franca of Benglur) and in decision making that affect their functioning thereby impacting the people - its customers i.e.
What seems to be the Problem?
As a generalization, it'd appear that these govt. run transport corporations, like other govt. bodies chartered to directly serve people in commercial transactions, do not take public as customers at all! Be it the BSNL, or ESCOMs, or RTOs, or the Palikes or BMTC or BMRC, although their very existence (& profitability in some cases) is hinged on public turnout, their indifference towards customers has continued to cause frustration among the public. In return our governments are known to have showered unconditional love and protection covering losses of such organizations with more public money supply. In doing so their indifference towards customers is solemnized and perhaps even legalized, making customers of such public sector undertakings fall dumb prey, left with little choice to churn.
(Its a different matter, of course, that this very lack of choice could have paved way for severe corruption in our society. Although this is not uncommon knowledge, it is important we the people write & read about this!)
Where seems to be the problem?
For instance, the BMTC is a govt. sponsored company that runs bus services in Benglur city. While it owes allegiance to the Karnataka govt (and hence the people) for most of its funding and other sponsorship, it still needs to be told about the importance of using Kannada in all its customer interactions, not just in its administrative affairs. It needs to be continuously polled and complained at the first instance of playing Hindi music inside its city buses. Having prevented any competition from breeding, BMTC has in a way been abusing its sponsor's (the govt.) dominant position to take undue control of the market and at thereby denying good service in Kannada to deserving Kannadiga customers in Benglur.
Taking a look at BMRC - problems galore from day one. Marked with public exclusion all along, this project continues to shock with information in three languages, one of them Hindi - a totally out of context language in a locally run train service, nowhere cutting across lands of Hindi speaking people. Making it yet another instrument of Hindi imposition in the hands of a federally elected govt. in Delhi? BMRC's journey tickets are given weird names from the Hindi dictionary, and the boards inside the real train coaches differ markedly from their mock counterparts (see pic). All this talks volumes about public exclusion being practised big time in these organizations.
Well, where lies the problem, really? Is it in those government bodies? Is it in our own bodies? Are we being forcibly shortchanged by these government undertakings? Are such urbanization measures of governments feigning modernization running their hideous imperialist enterprises entirely at our costs? Are we ending up paying for all these Hindi imposition? Have we lost our grounds and forgotten our rights as a customer in all these situations? Have we unlearned the skill of running projects to meet what our society needs? Have we given up before the battle has even begun? The battle for better quality of living, for our rights as customers, for our rights as equal citizens.
Being Kannadigas, don't we remember anymore that service in Kannada is indeed our right!? Then why aren't we hearing people complain?? Come ooooooooooooooooon! Lets not buy our tickets after the train has left! Lets write to them:
BMRCL - sivasailam@bmrc.co.in, sudhirchandra@bmrc.co.in, vasanthrao@bmrc.co.in, bmrcl@dataone.in.
BMTC - "Chief Traffic Manager (O)" <ctmobmtc@gmail.com>, bmtcmd@gmail.com
Karnataka CM - cm@kar.nic.in
Upon a quick survey of public transport in two Silicon Valleys, we find on one hand, VTA, the authority that runs a hybrid public transit system connecting multiple south Californian suburbs, and on the other hand two bodies namely BMTC & BMRC together connecting our own valley, Benglur. Standing among various differences between these geographies and organizations is the common factor that urban public transit systems are localized-by-design, in that their target audience and the traits expected of their operation are all locally attributable. These transport systems operate within smaller limits, earmark a limited demography as beneficiaries, and are structured to assist the lifestyles of the local people.
Similarities aside, there's a marked difference one finds in the nature of operation & maintenance of these transport bodies, a difference bearing in the way these bodies perceive commuters, and the bases on which they appear to be taking operational decisions. These differences could be in taking budgetary decisions, in publishing them, or using the smallest opportunity to thank people for their tax money. The VTA (and its like) seem to be voluntarily ahead with an upper hand compared to their Benglur counterparts, who in turn not only fail in attributing their existence & operation to public tax money, but also display clear aloofness in their publications (some really vital documents not in Kannada, the lingua-franca of Benglur) and in decision making that affect their functioning thereby impacting the people - its customers i.e.
What seems to be the Problem?
As a generalization, it'd appear that these govt. run transport corporations, like other govt. bodies chartered to directly serve people in commercial transactions, do not take public as customers at all! Be it the BSNL, or ESCOMs, or RTOs, or the Palikes or BMTC or BMRC, although their very existence (& profitability in some cases) is hinged on public turnout, their indifference towards customers has continued to cause frustration among the public. In return our governments are known to have showered unconditional love and protection covering losses of such organizations with more public money supply. In doing so their indifference towards customers is solemnized and perhaps even legalized, making customers of such public sector undertakings fall dumb prey, left with little choice to churn.
(Its a different matter, of course, that this very lack of choice could have paved way for severe corruption in our society. Although this is not uncommon knowledge, it is important we the people write & read about this!)
Where seems to be the problem?
For instance, the BMTC is a govt. sponsored company that runs bus services in Benglur city. While it owes allegiance to the Karnataka govt (and hence the people) for most of its funding and other sponsorship, it still needs to be told about the importance of using Kannada in all its customer interactions, not just in its administrative affairs. It needs to be continuously polled and complained at the first instance of playing Hindi music inside its city buses. Having prevented any competition from breeding, BMTC has in a way been abusing its sponsor's (the govt.) dominant position to take undue control of the market and at thereby denying good service in Kannada to deserving Kannadiga customers in Benglur.
 |
| BMRC: Heluvudu ondu, Maaduvudu innondu |
Well, where lies the problem, really? Is it in those government bodies? Is it in our own bodies? Are we being forcibly shortchanged by these government undertakings? Are such urbanization measures of governments feigning modernization running their hideous imperialist enterprises entirely at our costs? Are we ending up paying for all these Hindi imposition? Have we lost our grounds and forgotten our rights as a customer in all these situations? Have we unlearned the skill of running projects to meet what our society needs? Have we given up before the battle has even begun? The battle for better quality of living, for our rights as customers, for our rights as equal citizens.
Being Kannadigas, don't we remember anymore that service in Kannada is indeed our right!? Then why aren't we hearing people complain?? Come ooooooooooooooooon! Lets not buy our tickets after the train has left! Lets write to them:
BMRCL - sivasailam@bmrc.co.in, sudhirchandra@bmrc.co.in, vasanthrao@bmrc.co.in, bmrcl@dataone.in.
BMTC - "Chief Traffic Manager (O)" <ctmobmtc@gmail.com>, bmtcmd@gmail.com
Karnataka CM - cm@kar.nic.in
