The Urban Works Institute, along with civil society partners from Bengaluru, has collaborated with The Centre for Sustainability at Ramaiah Institute of Management to launch ‘The Bus4us BuzzFest’, an inter-college competition to engage the youth of the city to share ideas and suggestions to transform the image of buses in Bengaluru.
The launch event was held on Monday, January 30, at Ramaiah Institute Of Management in the presence of MA Saleem, Additional Director General of Police and Special Commissioner of Police Traffic, Bengaluru and Zehera Naseem, IAS, Joint Director (Admin), Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT). Furthermore, Shreya Gadepalli, Founder and Managing Trustee, The UrbanWorks Institute, Professor Dr Ashish Verma, Convenor, IISC Sustainable Transport (IST) Lab, Dr Meghna Verma, Head, Centre For Sustainability, Ramaiah Institute of Management, Sharath S R, Manager - Operations, B.PAC, and Satya Sankaran, Bicycle Mayor, Srinivas Alavilli, Friends of BMTC, also attended the event.
Bus4us is a campaign that promotes the use of buses and aims to garner support for a ‘State Urban Bus Mission’ to improve and augment bus services in cities across the state of Karnataka. Improving the quality of bus services is crucial to encourage more people to use them. By increasing the number of buses, improving the infrastructure for buses, and making the service more convenient for passengers, bus transportation becomes more attractive.
Bus4us BuzzFest features a range of contests, including a photography contest, poster-making competition, and social media competitions like reel creation. Any student studying in Bengaluru is eligible to participate in the competition, and they stand a chance to win Rs 25,000/- prize money in each category. All submissions for the competition have to be made before February 12, 2023.
Commenting on the Bus4us campaign, Shreya Gadepalli, Founder and Managing Trustee, The UrbanWorks Institute, said, “Buses have been the primary means of transportation for the city of Bengaluru for many years. As the city continues to grow and evolve, it is clear that the BMTC bus service is a sustainable and effective solution to the issue of traffic congestion. A focused bus mission towards improving bus services and transforming the image of buses is the need of the hour. It requires support from key decision-makers. Bus4us is a collaborative initiative to increase the buzz around buses, garner support for the widespread adoption of buses, and make it the preferred mode of transportation in Bengaluru.”
“We are excited to collaborate with Ramaiah Institute Of Management for the ‘Bus4us BuzzFest’ inter-college competition. It’s a great opportunity for students to understand sustainable urban mobility and bring their fresh ideas to suggest potential solutions. We look forward to engaging with them to create a positive perception of buses and inspire more people to use buses”, she added.