13 October 2023
The Centre for infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) conducted a joint workshop on 11 October 2023 to discuss research conducted by CiSTUP faculty and their partners to improve BMTC planning and operations.
BMTC was strongly represented by the leadership team, including the MD, Director IT, and Director S&V, and also senior officials such as Mr KR Vishwanath, CTM, Mr AN Gajendra Kumar, CME, along with deputy chief engineers, and divisional heads. IISc faculty, staff, and students along with their project partners rounded off the workshop participants.
CiSTUP faculty presented 10 different BMTC-centric research projects that covered the following topics:
Bus operations optimisation such as bus bunching control
Ridership and revenue forecasting
Bus priority lane evaluation
Electric bus fleet planning
First- and last-mile service improvement
Heavy vehicle simulator-based safety research
After the presentations and the release of CiSTUP’s BMTC-centric research booklet, a lively discussion followed with an active involvement of BMTC officials, which resulted in identification of action points for future collaboration.
Ms Sathyavathi, BMTC MD, said, “It is heartening to see CiSTUP’s cutting edge research on topics of relevance to bus transit systems in general, and BMTC in particular. We are eager to collaborate with CiSTUP faculty to translate their research into implementable solutions.” She also emphasised, “Academic institutions and public transit agencies should work closely with each other to find innovative solutions to today’s and emerging mobility problems.” Ms Snehal, IT Director, added, “Quarterly interactions between BMTC and IISc will help build on the momentum created in the workshop.”
Abdul Pinjari, Chair of CiSTUP, thanked all the BMTC officials for actively participating in the workshop, and said, “Research and impact reinforce each other, and CiSTUP faculty take this as a guiding principle. Their projects have resulted in important findings and decision-support tools that can potentially be used to aid BMTC’s planning and operations. Our faculty are looking forward to taking their research to the field in collaboration with BMTC.”
Release of CiSTUP Research for Improving BMTC Planning and Operations – A Booklet of Abstracts (from left: Tarun Rambha, Assistant Professor at CiSTUP, IISc; Snehal R, IAS, Director IT, BMTC; Abdul Pinjari, Chair of CiSTUP, IISc; Sathyavathi, IAS, Managing Director, BMTC; Kala Krishnaswamy, IPS, Director Security & Vigilance, BMTC; Rajesh Sundaresan, Dean, Division of EECS, IISc)
The research booklet is available for download on the official websites of both CiSTUP, IISc and BMTC and will also be distributed to relevant stakeholders.
Link: https://cistup.iisc.ac.in/CiSTUP_Website/files/CiSTUP_BMTC%20Research%20Booklet_10Oct2023.pdf
Website: https://cistup.iisc.ac.in/CiSTUP_Website/pages/events/ev_workshop/bmtc_workshop_oct_2023.php
CONTACT:
Monika HV, Project Assistant, CiSTUP, IISc: Office.cistup@iisc.ac.in, https://cistup.iisc.ac.in/
CA Ajay, PA to MD, BMTC:
md@mybmtc.com, https://mybmtc.karnataka.gov.in/
