The Red Cherry

Ever since the Volvo or the ‘Red Cherry’ was introduced in Bangalore my life has become so easy. I need not wait for the company shuttles anymore. In the past couple of months, I have used these buses more than my company shuttles and so wanted to write about them.

This seems to be the best thing happened so far to Bangalore public transport. Most of us crib about the pathetic traffic and infrastructure conditions in Bangalore but none of them understand that using public transport will reduce the traffic. But then the state of Bangalore’s public transport has made people to abstain from it. But not any more. The Volvo has found favor with the middle and upper middle class. In fact most of the days I travel in that standing and some days it is packed!

But then it has some distinctions on its own. Plying to electronic city and whitefield, many IT professionals use it. And that means you get to see some of the finest gadgets in the bus… yes I mean the very same BMTS bus. Laptops, PDAs, ipods are the most common ones. But its not confined to the commuters alone. The conductor uses an electronic ticket issuer, the driver makes use of the LCD screen instead of the rear mirror, mic to inform people about the bus stops, FM radio and on top of all these, the bus should be very easy to drive because its gearless!!

As for the travel comfort, AC is the most crucial thing with ducts provided above every seat. No sound and pollution, no jerks which gives u a comfort as good as a car. And its amazing pick up and speed mean u reach your destination in a short time. I hope that these kinds of Volvos are introduced in other parts of the city and also in other cities also. Not to mean they should dominate, certainly not, since they are affordable only by a smaller section of the society. But introduction of more Volvos will have a two fold advantage. First, you involve the higher strata of the society in using public transport. This will reduce traffic. Also it allows the government to follow a business model similar to the mobile business. (Mobiles make 70% profit from the 25% of total sales of high end models). They can make more profits from Volvos and hence reduce prices for the common class. If trains can have different classes like AC, sleeper and unreserved, flights can have economy, luxury and business to target different segments of the society then why not buses?? Who said only the poor should use buses?