Bengaluru is India’s third most-populous city, but its bus system is not only India’s largest with 6,448 buses (in 2015-16), it also lost the least money (Rs 101 crore) over six years to 2016 among eight metropolitan bus systems, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of transit data.

Buses tend to be the mass transit option of choice for a city’s poorest inhabitants. For instance, the cheapest bus ticket in Delhi is Rs 5 for non AC buses and Rs 10 for AC buses, according to the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) website, compared to Rs 10 for the cheapest metro ticket; in Bengaluru, the minimum fare on the metro is Rs 10, compared to Rs 5 for the bus (general service).

Managed better than its metropolitan counterparts, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) lost money in 2013-14 and 2014-15, the only Indian metropolitan bus-transit system to make profits over the six years we considered.