BANGALORE: In about a fortnight, people in areas around Srinagar in south Bangalore, who want to go to Peenya in the north of the city, need not take a bus to Kempegowda Bus Station and then proceed to Peenya. They can also avoid other circuitous routes.

They can board a bus on a new grid route (G-9) which runs from Banashankari 1st Stage to Jalahalli Cross. This route passes through Sita Circle, Avalahalli BDA Park, Bytarayanapura, Athiguppe, Vijayanagar, Jaimunirao Circle, Govindaraja Nagar, Kamakshipalya, Sunkadakatte, Hegganahalli Cross, Peenya 2nd Stage and reach Jalahalli. There are similar grid routes operating from Rajarajeshwari Nagar in the east to Marathalli in the west (B-1), and from Hoskote in the northeast to Kengeri Satellite Town in southwest (O-7).

These are among the 25 metro grid routes on which the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) will run 500 buses from April 28. According to BMTC Managing Director Upendra Tripathy, operating buses on these grid routes will mainly help in the decongestion of the Central Business District, which includes Mahatma Gandhi Road and Kempegowda Road. "By linking places on the inner and outer ring roads, these routes avoid coming to Kempegowda and Shivaji Nagar bus stations to proceed to their destinations," Mr. Tripathy said.

Following are the grid routes on which BMTC will run the buses from south to north directions: Bommanahalli to Kalyana Nagar New Bus stand (G-1); BTM Layout 2nd Stage to B. Channasandra (G-2); Arkere Mico Layout to Geddalahalli (G-3); J.P. Nagar 3rd Phase to Heggde Nagar (G-4); RBI Layout to Vishwanatha Nagenahalli (G-5); J.P. Nagar 6th Phase to Hebbal (G-6); ISRO Layout to Vidyaranyapura (G-7); and from Bhuvaneshwari Nagar to Laggere (G-8).

The grid routes on which buses will be operated from East to West are: Kengeri Satellite town KHB Quarters to Bommanahalli (B-3); Nagarabhavi Circle to Marathahalli Ring Road (B-4); Sunkadakatte to Marathahalli (B-5); Kamalanagar to Krishnarajapura (B-6) and Jalahalli Cross to Kasturba Nagar (B-7).

The grid routes on which buses will move diagonally from southwest and southeast directions are Marathalli-Hebbal (O-1); Hebbal-Sunkadakatte (O-2); Sunkadakatte-Bommanahalli (O-3); Bommanahalli-Satya Sai Hospital (O-4); Marathahalli-Yelahanka Satellite Town (O-5) and Vidyaranyapura-Sir C.V. Raman Nagar (O-6).

Mr. Tripathy said the grid routes have been planned to provide an option to commuters to either follow one route or change from one grid to another grid route at the junctions. The trail run of buses on some of the grid routes has yielded good results. The buses running of on these grid routes will be in addition to those running on the existing routes. The dark-blue coloured buses used on the grid routes have been specially designed by National Institute of Design, he said.

More buses

Mr. Tripathy said the BMTC would add 1,000 new buses, which include the 500 buses to be used on grid routes, to increase it fleet strength to 5,000 buses by the end of March. The BMTC has planned to use some of the these new buses during peak hour traffic. Around 1,200 city buses have the Global Positioning System facility that helps the BMTC Control Room to locate the bus.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail