Saturday, May 26, 2012

B2B



I used to enjoy the comforts of my car, driving to office within the  confines of an air conditioned environment. But two things changed my mindset towards office commute:
  1. One day I was sitting in my car waiting to get out of a massive traffic jam, listening to my favorite music. Then I heard the helpless siren of an ambulence behind me carrying a critical patient. It then struck me hard that probably my yearning for luxury was delaying a medical treatment for that critical patient. Then I thought, what if he dies? Wouldn't I be responsible for it, along with many other drivers around me?!  
  2. The picture below (borrowed and modified from a picture created by the NGO Hasiru Usiru). I hope it requires no additional explanation. 
The above two had a profound impact on me and I stopped taking my car to office completely, ever since. Switching to mass transport was not easy for me initially as it required additional walking to the bus stop and the uncertainty of when the bus comes. But I soon realised that it is a very small sacrifice to a city that gave me so much. It has been 2 years since I have been commuting the 18 km, that separates my home from the office, using BMTC and I would prefer the bus to my car any day.....



  
  So want to be the change?
                                                                                  B2B
B2B stands for Bus to Bannerughatta, an initiative to appeal to BMTC to improve the bus service along Bannerughatta Road.

Sounds interesting? Please continue reading….

In spite of having so many companies, educational institutions and hospitals, the bus service along Bannerughatta Road is comparatively poor. While connectivity from Bangalore City Bus Stand to Bannerughatta is good, surprisingly there is no connectivity to the Metro Station at MG Road. Having spent so much on implementing Bangalore Metro, it is ironic that a main station like MG Road has no bus connectivity to an IT corridor like Bannerughatta Road.

A team of people involved in environment related activities in my company CSG, are planning to write to BMTC to improve the bus connectivity to this road, especially from Shivaji Nagar. But we need to show the commuter demand so as to get easier acceptance by BMTC to this  appeal. So if you or any of your friends work in Bannerughatta road and keen to switch to bus, please drop an email to rbsuresh@yahoo.com with your name, telephone number, company name, home location, time of travel and preferred route by 29 May 2012. I do not know how successful we will be in this endeavor, but at least we must try.

By switching to a mass transport service, we can help the cause of:
  • A critical patient to reach the hospital in time*
  • A traffic constable in managing the traffic
  • Your employer, by improving our collective productivity
  • The nation by reducing the consumption of petroleum, thereby reducing our Current Account Deficit (and making Rupee stronger)
  • The environment, the obvious beneficiary
  • Above all, Yourself, as you will reach office/home less tired and less stressed**. Needless to say, you don’t spend on expensive petrol.


*Think about the three main hospitals along this road Sagar Apollo, Jayadeva and Fortis. How many critical patients would have suffered or lost their lives for not reaching the hospitals in time, due to traffic?!
**Study shows that one of the main causes of heart attack among urban dwellers is the stress induced by the traffic.




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