Operations Management: Professor Rajiv Misra

Mango Bus Stand

Increasing Operational Efficiency

Group Members:

Vaasu Sehgal: B19057

Veni Gupta: B19058
Vivitsa Upasti: B19059
Aashish Rastogi: FB19001
Anjana Dharmani: FB19002
Introduction

Mango bus stand (referred to MANGO henceforth) is the only Bus Stand for the city of Jamshedpur and caters to
Intra-state and Inter-state bus transportation facilities. MANGO has the following terminals – first one catering to
Ranchi, second one catering primarily to Patna and Varanasi routes, third one catering to locations in Odisha &
Chhattisgarh and the last one catering to locations in West Bengal.

As Jharkhand was erstwhile a part of state of Bihar, till year 2012 Bihar State Roadways buses used to ply to and from
Jamshedpur. From 2012 onwards, Jharkhand created a system of Public-Private partnership, through which private
vendors gather permit to run intra/inter-state buses from the Government run bus stand (MANGO in this case). The
bus-fare is fixed by the government, time to run the bus is allocated and then the buses run from MANGO at a
designated time. Maintenance and cleanliness of the bus-stand is again allocated to some private vendor through a
tendering process and the allottee earns by charging designated parking fee from the buses running from the bus
stand.

Stakeholders and Operations

The below matrix identifies the stakeholders and various operational aspects for each of them. Each of the cells is color
coded to submit our understanding of the ease/comfort (or discomfort) of these operations. Details of these aspects
and our recommendations for improvisation are mentioned as ahead:

Figure 1: Stakeholder analysis

2
Frequency of Buses: For Ranchi the bus service starts at 5 in the morning till 7:30 in the evening with 30 minutes
frequency. For Patna there are 6 buses per day. The reason that this is negative for the Bus owners is because of the
fact that the occupancy rate is anywhere around 30-40% in the lean season. 65-70% in the normal season and around
90% + during the peak festival season. This is positive for the Government as it earns anywhere from Rs. 50,000 to
Rs.60,000 per annum from each of the permits awarded. (LiveHindustan.Com, Nov.2017)

Travelling Options (Comfort): Different travelling comfort levels are being offered on various routes – there are
general class buses, there are AC buses, Volvo (multi-axle) AC buses and Sleeper buses at prominent routes –
specifically for Ranchi and Patna. While sleeper and general buses are available for other routes, AC bus services are
not frequent on other routes. Internal maintenance of AC buses as well cleanliness in general is not up to the mark.

Booking Options: Both online and offline ticket booking options are available for almost all the routes. The system
is not optimized completely as there are complaints of online booked seats being allocated to another person by the
offline ticket vendor. A hand-held ticket vending PoS machine integrated with the online vendors may provide a
workable solution.

Encroachment and Permits: There are three kinds of encroachments that are there at MANGO – encroachment by
ticketing vendors, encroachment by general vendors and encroachment by bus owners that park their vehicles
(working/non-working) inside the bus-stand (Jagran.com Dec.2017). The other challenge is plying of the buses from
MANGO without permit (LiveHindustan.Com Nov.2017). This causes the exchequer huge losses. All these challenges
result in cluttering of the space in MANGO.

3
Now we move on to discussing problems which were identified by us and providing solutions for the same:

1) Missing directions

On reaching the Mango Bus Station, the commuter requires the directions to proceed to the ticket counter and have
information about the next bus going to its destination. Following are the shortcomings Mango has in this respect:

Problems:

A) Missing Main gate board and gate numbers.

B) Lack of schedule of buses scheduled for commuters’ destination.

C) There are no maps/direction boards for utility areas, such as, waiting area, eateries, public toilets, etc.

In this respect, we can have the following improvisations to make the operational improvement and provide a better
service to the commuter.

Solutions:

A) There must be a Main Entrance Board that is visible to the incoming commuters and could differentiate this
gate from the rest 4 gates. Along with this, each gate must be numbered in sufficiently big font size so as to give
a clear direction to the public as to where and which gate to use while entry/exit.

B) For the schedule of buses that are going to leave for particular destination, there must be a digital display that
shows the buses with their bus number, the destination and the time of departure. For commuter’s
convenience, the Class (Sleeper/Sitting/AC/ Non-AC) can also be shown in this display board so as to save the
decision making time of the passenger.

C) Mango has various facilities for commuters, such as waiting area, eatery vendors, public toilets, etc. Since the
directions to these places is missing, it so happens that the commuter either has to take a full round of the bus
stand to get to the place it is looking for, or commuter dubiously assumes that such facility is not there in here.
A feasible solution to this could be having a sign board to inform and direct the commuter about these utilities
available at the bus stand.

4
2) Mismanagement of Space

Problems:

Firstly, on account of no specific gate for entry and exit, there is haphazard movement of buses. Buses enter and exit
from any gate which also causes extra movement within the bus stand. Secondly, owing to space constraints,
movement of a bus is very difficult. As bystanders we observed how much time it was taking for a bus to enter from the
gate and park the bus in its spot. On an average about 5 minutes of time was taken for the bus to simply move back and
forth in order to be able to park freely. The implications of this are multifold:

- Obstacle for people walking on the road

- Restricts movement of other buses

- Man power spent in giving directions to the driver

- Fuel wastage

Finally, there is no designated space for parking of buses. The terminals are completely choked with the number of
buses parked inside MANGO. In fact, on the road outside for almost half a Km, there are buses parked on both sides,
thereby clogging the roads too. Is there a method in this madness! There seems to be one, among the private vendors
as they have clarity on the time slot for their respective buses, they park them accordingly – in sequence of their
respective slots. It seems to be working for them.

Apart from the haphazard movement of buses a main concern is the ticket counters. There is no specific allocated
space for the ticket counters. Spokesperson from the various private vendors randomly crowd the stand by allocating
tickets either at the entry/exit gates or somewhere in between.For private counters they have occupied some
unallocated space in the middle of the bus stands, where private vendors compete with each other for the sale of
tickets. This leaves the customer entirely confused and it causes time as the ticket prices are also not mentioned
properly. Neither it is clear from where to buy the tickets of specific destination.

The private bus stand is also very overcrowded as due to the competition many vendors have n number of buses
parked randomly. They don’t utilise the space available and due to a large number of buses and no regulation of the
parking space it becomes a bit overcrowded that hampers the operations. It is a major bottleneck as this consumes a
lot of time. No proper space is available for buses to exit/enter properly. As, we saw that due to overcrowding a bus
has to change its position very frequently so that it can get a proper passage to leave.

Moreover, there is no proper space allocated to the vendors and they come in between of functioning of buses.

5
Vendors authorised/unauthorised just function wherever they get space mainly at entry/exit gates so that they attract
a lot of customers. This creates a major problem for buses to have a smooth entry exit process.

Figure 2: Vendors working in random areas

A separate bay is not allocated for the repairing/servicing of the buses. Lot of buses that needs repairing or
maintenance are serviced right where they are park. This also creates a major obstruction in the entry/exit passage of
the buses. It also consumes a lot of space also as the by parts or repair parts also lie around randomly.

Figure 3: Maintenance work going on

6
Solutions:

A) We propose well defined entry and exit gates. The map above shows the layout which we believe will help to
deal with the limited space.

Figure 4: Entry and exit gates marked on map

B) There must be sufficient space around the gates for free movement of buses. With cargo being loaded in,
vendors standing there and passengers walking there is utter chaos. The gates should be de-cluttered from both
inside and outside. A mechanism must be built where upon entering the gate, buses move towards the
left/right hand side in a systematic manner.
C) While a structural bottleneck, this may have an easier solution. Parking for buses that are not having their slot
in next one hour may be denied parking inside the bus-stand. Permits are given, bus registration numbers are
known – timeslot wise; hence again a measurement device that clearly highlights the bus numbers that should
be inside MANGO at any given time may be displayed near gates of each terminal. Thereby, ensuring that buses
whose numbers are not displayed on these boards can be penalized if found inside. Reduced number of buses
in MANGO will further facilitate any/all design changes required to make it a better bus terminus.

7
 D) One of the solutions is to provide a designated space for the ticket counter of the private vendors. Instead of
occupying a space in the middle of the bus stand they should be allocated a space where they can function
independently and proper visual boards should be displayed so that a customer can clearly recognize the price,
destination and vendor. This will not only save the time of the customer but also of the buses as this activity
won’t hinder the passage of the buses.

E) Specific design changes need to be made for the bus stand so that vendors can be allocated some space where
they can attract customers. Instead of working autonomously they should be allocated some shops in the
shopping complex so that they don’t have to shift their carts whenever a bus comes or leaves.

F) There should also be a cap on the number of buses private vendors can operate. As overcrowding makes it very
difficult to utilize the space. Each vendor should be allocated some designated space so that they don’t
overcrowd it. It will also ease the process for customers to identify the buses of the particular vendor.

G) A separate bay should be allocated for maintenance and servicing of the buses. Private vendors should not be
allowed to service the bus wherever they want as it not only hinders the operations but also make it untidy.
Spare parts and instruments require a lot of space so maintenance in the middle becomes cumbersome and a
major bottleneck in the operations. Instead of every vendor maintaining or servicing their own buses , there
should be a dedicated service station that operates this functionality.

3) Poor Commuter’s Service

Problem:

A) Government & Private Space Division

8
The Mango Bus stand has 2 unequal halves- one which is used to operate government-run buses and other used by the
private players. The government operates buses majorly to Ranchi and Patna. The privately-run buses operate to
locations such as Ranchi, Patna, Bhubaneswar, West Bengal etc. However, the private side is highly congested since
there is higher number of operators. Not only this, there is availability of space on the other side which can be utilised
to improve the efficiency of the bus stand.

Solution:

The bus stand should be divided on the basis of the destination of the buses rather than present division. The part
having Gate 1 and Gate 2 can be used to operate buses only to Ranchi and Patna, irrespective of private and
government operators, whereas the other bigger half (having Gate 3,4 and 5) can be used to operate buses to all the
remaining destinations.

Problem:

B) Jaywalking Passengers

One of the major issues faced at the bus stand are passengers who have come to board the buses. Since the auto drivers
mostly drop off the passengers near Gate 3 and Gate 2, which are used as entry and exit gates for buses, there is a high
inflow of passengers at these gates. Not only this but these gates are also used to bring cargo and other items into the
bus stand. Passengers are also seen roaming freely, trying to find their buses, which results in them walking on/across
the road used by outgoing/ incoming buses. This increases the time taken by the buses to leave/ enter the bus stand. It
also increases the possibility of an accident, which would result in passengers getting hurt and a blockage inside the
single-channel bus stand.

9
 Figure 5: Cargo entering from Gate 3 blocking the bus from exiting

Figure 6: Passengers entering from Gate 3. The gate is big enough for a bus to exit and to
have a small side passenger gate to channelize their entry.

10
Solution:

To solve this problem, Firstly, we can have a set drop-down zone of auto drivers to drop the passengers which is
opposite to the bus stand. This would help in spreading out the customers making them enter from all the 3 gates.
Secondly, we can have a small path/ gate for the passengers to enter from all the three gates which will reduce the
crowd at the gates and reduces the time taken by buses to exit or enter. Thirdly We can have designated channels for
the customers to walk through. These can be made by laying tracks or markings on the floor. Even though it might take
require some space, it would help reduce the time taken by bus to leave the bus stand (which is a non-value-added
time).

Problem:

C) Scrap Buses

In a bus stand where space is a limited resource, the section where the government- run buses operate had 6 scrap
buses standing right at the center. Some of these buses were getting corroded, missing windowpanes or wheels. This
space can be used by the over-crowded private- side of the bus stand to operate buses to Ranchi and Bhubaneswar.

Solution:

Permanently remove the scrap buses. Allot these spaces to shift buses from the private side. If there are some buses
that need repair on the other side.

Figure 7: Scrap buses lying around unattended

11
Conclusion:

As a group we identified that the major problem was how to minimize the time taken by the buses to enter and exit the
premises. The bottleneck was found to be the mismanagement in terms of no dedicated entry and exit gates which
creates a lot of chaos by the haphazard movement of buses leading to an increase in the operation time. Currently, a lot
of time gets wasted when there are passengers walking, maintenance work going on, movement of vendors etc Hence,
we have given different solutions for all the problems in our analysis above.

References:

https://www.avenuemail.in/jamshedpur/passengers-feel-heat-govt-bus-stand-lacks-amenities/107598/

https://www.livehindustan.com/jharkhand/jamshedpur/story-mango-bus-stand-auctioned-in-29-96-lakh-in-8-th-
attempt--1658676.html

https://www.avenuemail.in/jamshedpur/administration-finalizes-tender-managing-mango-bus-terminus/29145/

https://inextlive.jagran.com/no-atm-at-mango-bus-stand-191333

https://www.avenuemail.in/jamshedpur/mp-flags-off-jamshedpur-patna-luxury-bus-service/126054/

https://www.jagran.com/jharkhand/jamshedpur-encroachment-removed-from-mango-bus-stand-17147913.html

https://www.livehindustan.com/jharkhand/jamshedpur/story-more-than-100-buses-going-on-without-permission-
from-the-mango-bus-stand-1651411.html

12