First posted February 20th, updated March 4th.

Bangalore has introduced a Hop On Hop Off (HO-HO) shuttle bus service for the central business district (CBD) called Kendra Saarige which has been mooted by ABIDe with a view to reducing some of the nightmarish traffic congestion in the CBD.

This service is the first of its kind in India, and covers all the major shopping, entertainment, office, and commercial hotspots in the Bangalore CBD.

The Ho-Ho bus service as it is more commonly called, is operated by the air-conditioned Volvo fleet of BMTC, and charges a flat fee of Rs. 10 ($0.20) valid for a period 2 hours. In my opinion, this is unbeatable value.

The buses are painted in Blue and Orange colour to indicate the loops. Some of the Volvos may still be in the traditional Red, but will say Blue or Orange on the front display boards. The Blue loop runs clockwise, the Orange loop runs counter clockwise. Each full loop will take 40 minutes, and buses run at a 10 minute frequency starting around 7:30am and stopping at 10:30pm.

The stylised map below gives a good indication of the bus stops. You can obtain larger versions of either map by clicking on it.
I have also created a interactive Map with click-able bus-stop locations. Please feel free to use the image or the map and spread the news. Thanks in advance.

December 3, 2008 update

BMTC is no longer booking via Redbus and Viaworld. For online booking please visit www.ticketvala.com.

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The Karnataka State Tourism Development Coporation (KSTDC) is now the third taxi operator at Bengaluru International Airport (BIA). According to Vinay Luthra, managing director, KSTDC, 100 new taxis, mainly Mahindra Logans and and Tata Indigos, have commenced operations.

At the same time, BMTC has done some route rationalisation and changes in bus stop locations to accommodate the Metro construction.



I am summarising the contact information for all the various taxi and bus services to BIA for your ready reference.

Bus Service
Without a doubt, still the most value efficient airport service are the BMTC, Vayu Vajra (air-conditioned Volvo) and Suvarna (non-AC) bus service. Both services are known for their 24x7 service, comfort, efficiency, and safety. At an average fare (to/from City Centre) of Rs.150 ($3.10), for the AC and Rs.80 ($1.70) for non AC, they are unbeatable.

BMTC has also tied up with Cel Cabs and SGL for Home Connect taxi service which offers a door pick-up/drop-off, to the nearest Vayu Vajra/Suvarna bus stop for an additional Rs.100 ($2).

For details on service, routes, and timings, visit the BMTC information website.

For the Home Connect taxi service call +91 (80) 6060-9090 (Cel) or +91 (80) 4299-4399 (SGL).

Individual Taxi Service
Next in the list are the three paid taxi service operators listed in alphabetical order. These are available ad-hoc from the airport terminal, but require an advance booking of 2 hours, from the city. All services are air-conditioned, GPS equipped, and charge Rs. 15/- per kilometer. A trip to/from the city centre will cost you about Rs.650 (US$14).

Easy Cab. Call them on +91 (80) 4343-4343 or book online at www.easycabs.com.
KSTDC. Call them on +91 (80) 4242-5555.
Meru Cab. Call them on +91 (80) 4422-4422 or book online at www.merucabs.com.

Shared Taxi Service
Next are the shared taxi service operators. Airlift and Zoom. These services require an advance booking of about 5~6 hours. Personally, I have had a decent experience with Airlift. I have no experience with Zoom.

A trip on Airlift will cost you Rs.340 ($7). A pick-up or drop-off at your doorstep will add Rs.100 ($2) to the tab.

Airlift. Call them on +91 (80) 4052-8888 or visit www.airliftonline.com
Zoom Airport Express. Call them on +91 (80) 6561-1999 or visit www.zoomairportexpress.com.

For those wanting to use autorickshaws or inter-city buses, there is a transit centre at the trumpet interchange. BMTC runs a shuttle bus from this transit centre to the airport terminal.

For an overview of parking at, and other transport options to/from, Bengaluru International Airport, please read my previous article. I hope you will find it helpful.

Please post your bus or taxi travel experience via a comment.

Updated information is available on the "BIA Bus & Taxi" link on the top menu bar.

K.V. Subramanya and Anil Kumar Sastry at the Hindu report that the domestic passenger traffic at Bengaluru International Airport is down. Short-haul domestic air traffic has dropped drastically, and shifted away from the air to surface transport like buses, trains and cars. BIAL is suffering the double blow of a slowdown in the domestic aviation industry which has forced increases in air fares. The new airport's remote location and 1 hour commute only adds to its woes.

The full report :

Passenger traffic, particularly in the domestic sector, at the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) has come down since June.

In the initial days after the opening of the airport, BIA handled around 172 flights a day — international as well as domestic. However, the airport now handles only 162 flights while the domestic traffic has come down by 1.5 per cent, according to sources at the BIA.

The passenger traffic did not pick up at the BIA during late August and September as was seen in other airports in the country. The overall annual growth of passenger volume in the country had dropped by three per cent, the sources said.

However, the trend was not unusual, as according to the global trend, September was a lean season for the aviation industry, the sources claimed. Although there had not been any flight suspensions to or from the BIA because of the fall in traffic volume, there had been some ad hoc or unscheduled cancellations of flights in the past two months due to “operational reasons.”

However, during the winter 2008 schedule, the number of flights would go up to 165 a day, the sources added.

Meanwhile, major airlines have been witnessing decreased load factor on domestic routes, particularly short-haul ones.

While the average load factor had been around 70 per cent, on some routes it was as low as 20 per cent, said a senior official of a private airline. While two private airlines used to operate two flights a day each to Mangalore, they were likely to operate one each, after the flights registered just 20 per cent load factor.

Similar has been the case with many private carriers operating on short-haul routes, namely Hyderabad, Chennai, Coimbatore, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram.

However, the overall positive growth at BIA, despite the fall in domestic air traffic, was due to the increased international flight operations from Bangalore, the sources explained.

In the last four and a half months, six new international air carriers had started operations in Bangalore: Dragon Air, Tiger Airways, Oman Air, Air Mauritius and most recently Indian carriers Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways. The total increase in international flights was around 230 per cent as compared to last year’s winter schedule, the sources said.

Beneficiaries

The reduction in number of passengers on short-haul flights has benefited bus operators and the Railways. The load factor on trunk routes had increased substantially since the opening of the BIA.

Anwar Hussain, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, South Western Railway, Bangalore, said while important trains on trunk routes always used to run packed, the load factor on Shatabdi Express (Mysore-Bangalore-Chennai) had considerably increased. It used to be around 75 to 80 per cent earlier, he added. On the other hand, wait-list on trains on important routes had become lengthy, Mr. Hussain added.

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and RTCs of neighbouring States too introduced more buses connecting Bangalore with important destinations in their States. KSRTC Director (Operations) K.S. Rajkumar said the corporation recently signed inter-State agreements with its counterparts.

I have updated all the BIAL transport information in October 2008. Please use the Vayu Vajra link on the main menu bar. If you find this article useful, before jumping off the blog, I will appreciate if you can leave a comment or your thanks. Also consider subscribing to the blog via RSS or choose to receive e-mail updates when new articles are posted.

I received some very encouraging news today and kudos to both BIAL and BMTC.

Bengaluru International Airport Ltd., and the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation sat down and have arrived at an action plan which will help increase the visibility and hopefully usage of the BMTC Vayu Vajra air-conditioned Volvo bus service to and from the airport, affectionately called "VV" by Bangaloreans.

BIAL will provide better visibility at the airport to VV all the way from the airport transfer buses till the terminal exit.

A display board will be implemented at the arrival baggage collection area which will provide real-time next bus departure timing from the airport.

BIAL will also canvass the airlines to put promotional placards or flyers in seat pockets and display informational videos on in-flight entertainment systems. I exhort the airlines to pitch in.

Despite significant loss, BMTC has been enthusiastically running the VV service, and these steps by the teams at BIAL and BMTC should help strengthen the service and offer a comfortable yet economical airport transport solution.

For more information on the VV service including route lists and timings visit the Vayu Vajra site.

I have updated all the BIAL transport information in October 2008. Please use the Vayu Vajra link on the main menu bar.

BIAL bound? No problem
Author: Priyadarshini Nandy

Booking a cab to and from the airport just became easier with service providers going online. You don’t have to worry about them turning up on time as stiff competition keeps these vendors on their toes...

After much deliberations and protests the Bangalore International Airport is finally in function. The only issue that continues to trouble commuters is the lack of infrastructure that leads us to the airport.

Thanks to private vendors coming forth, travelling to the airport isn’t much of a mammoth task any more.

Of these, Zoom Airport Express, Airlift cabs and Meru cabs are three of the only services to have come forward with fully integrated websites, www.zoomairportexpress.com, www.airliftonline.com and merucabs.com for consumers to use to schedule pick up and drops.

How it works

While Airliftonline allows you to schedule pick up and drops to and from the airport, all financial transactions are made directly to the cab drivers. The service has pick up points for users to choose from.

Meru Cabs has a more user friendly interface, allowing you to book cabs online and on the phone via SMS or their customer care centre. Payment however is again made to the driver Zoomexpress however, intends to take that a step further by allowing online payment for travelling to the airport.

The website is not completely operational now as the the company is still in the process of partnering with banks with card payment options.

“Once the e-commerce is set up, people will be able to use the website not only to book pick up and drops, they can also make payments as we will have fixed charges to the BIAL from every location.

So, once the customer keys in the location he needs to be picked up from, he can pay for it accordingly online itself. Since we’re focussing on BIAL as our hub, it becomes easier to fix a fee,” says TPRS Prasad, CEO Zoom Airport Express.

Zoom Express schedules cars every 30 minutes and users can actually check the next convenient pick up time and book their cabs accordingly. “Users can actually book taxis, keeping one hour windows for us to accommodate them. This way, even last minute scheduling is possible,” adds Prasad.

In comparison iT ADDA did a quick comparison between the three websites to bring out their best features.

Meru cabs: The company is not new, already operating in Mumbai and New Delhi. Their website is really comprehensive and has whatever information you might be looking for on the website. Once you register on the website, it keeps track of your previous bookings with them as well. Once booked, the website sends you a confirmation number as an alert either via email or SMS.

Airlift cabs: It allows you to take a cab either from their list of pick up points or from your home. Extra charges are applicable for door-to-door pickups. The website also asks for your flight details and automatically gives you the best pick up times for you to choose from. Again, transactions are made with the taxi driver directly as the fare is calculated according to the meter.

Zoom Express: While the website currently carries information on the areas covered, they do intend to start e-commerce within a month’s time. Once that section is up and running, customers won’t have to argue with cab drivers on faulty metres and fares as everything would be possible online.

“Since this is a cab share concept, we’ve been able to keep the fares moderate without compromising customer comfort,” concludes Prasad.

Source : The Mid-Day

Addendum

Please read my BIAL transport article and BMTC Online Booking article which details other transport options to and from BIAL.