The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : A combination of metro and monorail will serve city's needs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 26, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

A combination of metro and monorail will serve city's needs

While some of our readers have favoured metro, many have supported the idea of having metro as well as monorail systems

Long-term gains

The metro rail plan, with extensions recently announced, can, if well executed and completed at the earliest, be the solution to the traffic chaos in the city. There will be some inconvenience during its construction and some private property has to be taken over, but one should think of the long-term gains. The controversy over what type of public transportation suits our needs best should be stopped now.

G. Krishnamurthy,

J.P. Nagar

Needless controversy

There is no reason why the two or rather four arms of the metro, with the city bus station area as the central hub, cannot be linked through a monorail system as well. For certain groups and individuals, opposing every new development is almost a habit. They make short-sighted statements and create needless controversy about something badly lacking in Bangalore.

Neha Mendes,

Cox Town

Guidelines

Enough controversy has been aired through the media, and the Government itself has made it clear that metro rail will become a reality some years from now. Chennai with its existing multiple transportation choices is also clamouring for metro rail. The Union Transport Ministry is in the process of preparing guidelines for all metro projects and Bangalore metro will follow them.

P. Ramamurthy,

Jayanagar

Dubious fashion

Criticising the metro rail has become a dubious fashion. All mega projects will have their strengths and drawbacks. There is no reason why a monorail system cannot complement metro rail and provide an additional option; let us have both. The steadily increasing population demands better mass transit choices.

Farha M.,

Fraser Town

Better frequency

We cannot go on adding more buses to cope with demand; the city roads can barely cope with the present volume of traffic. Roads cannot be widened any more in most areas. Using fixed routes and with better frequency, a combination of metro and monorail systems will serve the needs of Bangalore admirably.

A. Krishnaswamy,

Basavanagudi

Have both services

Controversies over flyovers and mass transit systems are just evidence of our Constitutional right to free speech. The same critics may be seen happily travelling by metro rail when it starts functioning. We can perhaps have a combination of metro and monorail systems, linking almost all parts of the city and even outer suburbs. Arguing their relative merits and shortcomings will take us nowhere. As already seen on our over crowded roads.

Ganesh Prabhu,

K.R. Puram

NEXT WEEK: Is the age of consumerism taking over our traditional traits of thrift and simple living? With larger disposable incomes, easy loans and practically anything available on instalments, many feel today's youth are going the materialistic way of the West. The too rapid change to a consumerist culture may have hidden perils.

Readers are invited to send their responses to The Hindu, 19 & 21, Bhagwan Mahaveer Road, Bangalore 560001, or email bglreflections@thehindu.co.in.

J.P. Nagar

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