The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Road widening leaves commuters in the lurch

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 26, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Road widening leaves commuters in the lurch

Staff Reporter

No provision made for building bus bays at Kengeri on Mysore Road No provision made for building bus bays at Kengeri on Mysore Road

HARDSHIP TO PUBLIC: The makeshift Kengeri bus stand on Mysore Road in Bangalore. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

BANGALORE: Commuters boarding Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses at Kengeri have to wait in the scorching sun because there is no bus shelter at this stop.

The old bus shelters were demolished when the widening of the Mysore Road was taken up about two years ago. Although the work has been completed now, the Town Municipal Council (TMC) is yet to build a bus shelter at this busy stop.

Kengeri was developed as a satellite town to decongest the city and many residential layouts have come up around this busy suburb. Several educational institutions have come up in the area and a majority of the students of these institutions depend on BMTC buses for commuting.

BMTC operates over 200 services, which make not less than 1,200 trips in a day to Kengeri and other far-flung localities, including the ring road service. The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation operates around 600 services that pass through Kengeri doing 1,200 trips in a day. Many of these buses stop at Kengeri.

Haphazard parking

As there are no bus bays, drivers park buses haphazardly depending on the space available. Even before a commuter locates his bus, the bus would leave the stop before he reaches it.

The plight of the commuters is appalling when it rains. They have to take shelter at the roadside shops. BMTC authorities regretted that no space was left for building bus bays or erecting shelters while widening the road. The problem was aggravated as the National Highways authorities have barricaded the road. BMTC has urged the National Highways authorities to at least remove the barricades so that the corporation could build temporary bus shelters. The BMTC is planning to build a bus depot and a spacious bus terminal a few hundred metres away from the present bus stop.

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