We are at a precipice when it comes to public infrastructure in India, the roads are crumbling, the trains aren't enough, yet everyone still wants more flyovers, more lanes and even tunnel roads. The problem is clearly not with the laws, we have the right policy structures in place, legal frameworks such as the DULT/BMLTA act of 2023 for Bengaluru, UMMTA for Mumbai, CUMTA for chennai and so many other organizations that are championing the cause of public transport, but the problem of bad incentives have driven people to choose private vehicles, leading to a call for better roads, which leads to constant wear and tear on the roads, which are built haphazardly to ensure timely and within cost construction, a ouroboros if you may...

In cities such as Kochi, where I come from, the menace of rashly driven private buses, which is still a form of public transport, has led to the loss of one too many lives.[1] The obvious cause of these deaths are 2 fold:

1. Rent seeking authorities and exploitative owners requires recovery from higher footfall. This leads to a push for quicker loading, packing passengers beyond reason and rash driving to ensure faster cycling through passengers.
2. Competition among bus services means the first bus to reach a stop wins, which results in overtaking and racing/speeding among competitors.

In both cases we see illegal behavior, but not enough enforcement leads to oversight.[2] Enough talking about the problems, let's discuss the possible solutions. One obvious method to ensure better service is to require the merger of competing bus services into a co-operative that is regulated by the city government. A much more fair price for tickets, set with the help of economic indicators and other forms of price control, but not driven merely through political gimmicks.

Obviously, Kochi is not as badly wanting of transport options as is Bengaluru, while the problem of private buses is not what ails the city, a lack of bus services is evident in many parts of the city. And where there is bus connectivity, it usually comes with lower frequencies, which is problematic, mainly because citizens seek convenience, and when buses are not a trustable form of getting from A to B, they will opt for the next best option. Two wheelers are an obvious fall-back for the lower middle class, the upper middle class can purchase cars, but most opt for it as their only form of transport, which means they take it out to go as a group, or even when they have to go around all alone. The problem stares us right in the face, we can't ask people to choose public transport where it doesn't exist, can we?

Bengaluru's problems also stems from a lack of enforcement when it comes to fair pricing in the ride-hailing sector. Laws stipulate fares that are probably poticially made decision, and could be unfair, but auto and cab drivers choose to flout these mandates, seeking to opt-in to the aggregator ecosystem, using services such as Uber/Ola/Namma Yatri/Rapido to provide their services at a premium. While the costs increase for the passenger, it also leads to a fall in demand from many potential passengers, who find it cheaper to drive around on two wheelers than to pay what might be exorbitant rates. These three-wheelers could have played a better role as the essential last-mile option for the common traveller. Banning ride-hailing two wheelers in Bengaluru's case is also a huge hit on optionality, but do we need two wheelers taxis?

Two wheelers could be an easy solution, after all, the cost of adding bus services in unconnnected areas is a bigger capital expenditure than undoing a ban or loosening enforcement. In my opinion, we should seek to satiate the demand by allowing more creativity in the public transport sector of bengaluru. Just as in the case of Kochi, private buses could be a solution. How? in two possible ways:

1. Allow regulated bus services to ply on high frequency routes, providing value added services such as AC coach, possbly with the option to reserve seats, but at a higher cost to the consumer. Bengaluru is the best suited to such a service, with the number of well paid employees that ply on certain routes, the possibility of them opting for such a bus over cabs and other services is higher, leading to better road utilization. In this case, regulation could be made possible through citizen involvement.
2. Require the BMTC to run more compact buses on lower frequency routes, possibly increase the frequency of such services, ensuring more passengers are served, as not all people travel at peak hours.

I have not even started discussing the Indian Railways, a pinnacle of achievement in the 20th century, now a languid. While it has come a long way, the problems facing the system are those of frequency and quality of service. We need to give up on our flawed ways of political point scoring, using new services as a form of rewarding the electorate.[3] What we need is long-term vision, we need two material changes in how IR does business:

1. A focus on higher quality of service at fairer pricing, quality can come from many places, it could be better coaches, with more AC berths, added services such as on-demand food services, all of which have begun to show up on many routes, but quality also means faster, more frequent and even better optionality. We desperately need more services, which can only happen when we streamline and cut down on services that don't make much sense. Higher frequence of services between A-B, where the passenger can then board another train and make it to C, in a deterministic manner could easily lead to better utilization of tracks than services that go from station A to D or B to E, arbitrarily. Another factor that needs drastic improvement in signalling and locomotive technology. In the age of bullet trains, IR still serves a majority of train journeys in machines designed for another era.
2. Ensuring convenience of booking, most train journeys are lost in the mist of booking uncertainity. When it comes to optionality, being able to book tickets at the last moment is a fair ask. Some want to travel in the case of emergencies, but most people don't even have another option, but for private long distance buses, which could just as well charge more for lower quality of service.

Probably all of this is changing, with bullet trains being the talk of town, with more metro lines popping up in the major cities and more options such as the "water metro" in Kochi, the problems we seek to solve will certainly evolve over time. Maybe we'll even see a day when we have too much public transport, till then I shall rest my case. Hope you liked this summary of my opinions on public transport, I'd love to hear yours, let's discuss in the comments below!