HOT TOPICS
SPOTLIGHT AGENCIES
Missing the bus
Written By SB_YPR - 2 January, 2009
Bangalore BMTC TTMC Namma Metro Analysis BMRC Integration Mobilicity Metro Rail
Hi, Warm greetings to all of you for the new year. I have been reading the posts on this forum for a while now, and today I decided to take the plunge myself.
The BMRC has been hyping on integration with other modes of transport right from the beginning. Sadly, they have overlooked two crucial spots where integration would have been of great help, on the East-West corridor.
The first is in Vijayanagar, on Chord Road. BMTC recently started construction of a TTMC at its erstwhile depot (location 0, marked "Vijayanagar Depot" in the map below). At the time of commencing construction, no mention was made about possible integration with the Metro. The BMRC, on the other hand, proposes to build the Vijayanagar station a good 750 m away, (location 1, along the curve near Prasanna Ganapati Temple in the map below). Neither have they made any mention about integration with BMTC. So, BMRC has lost an excellent opportunity to sync with BMTC, which could have provided feeder services to Nagarbhavi, Basaveshwaranagar etc. With the long gap between the two, passengers wishing to change modes will have to undergo a long walk, putting them to inconvenience, and the advantages offered by the TTMC/station (shelter, refreshments, escalators etc.) will come to naught. [gmap markers=numbers::12.965374319161853,77.5348949432373 + 12.960188429734616,77.53322124481201 |zoom=15 |center=12.963178693681563,77.53459453582763 |width=500px |height=400px |control=Small |type=Map]
The second, more glaring, example is that of the MCTC satellite bus terminus on Mysore Road. Here, the Metro would have been even more useful, coming to the assistance of long-distance KSRTC travellers as well (the MCTC terminus is not very well connected at present). But as things stand, the proposed Metro station at Deepanjali Nagar (location 0, marked "Deepanjalinagar Bus depot" in the map below) is almost 1 km from the MCTC bus terminus (location 1, marked "KSRTC statellite bus station" in the map below). All that BMRC had to do was to consult the BBMP, and reroute its alignment above the SW drain upto Gali Anjenayaswamy temple, and construct a station there (location 2 in the map below) to connect to the MCTC terminus. But now, BBMP is in full swing constructing a road flyover on the same alignment, so it is now too late for BMRC. [gmap markers=numbers::12.950778273916194,77.53708362579345 + 12.953204036982567,77.54364967346191 + 12.953120390373486,77.54120349884033 |zoom=15 |center=12.950401860289041,77.5420618057251 |width=500px |height=400px |control=Small |type=Map]
Lack of coordination? Plain laziness? Or just ignorance of ground realities? Whatever the case, BMRC has certainly missed the bus here, and it is we Bangaloreans who will have to run after the bus - literally.
Regards,
~~~~
Manish,
Nagarbhavi.
COMMENTS
mcadambi - 3 January, 2009 - 08:38
Without such powers, BMLTA is a toothless tiger.
In Bangalore, the RTA (Road Transport Authority) can at best fix fares for autorickshaws and easycabs!
murali772 - 3 January, 2009 - 06:54
Excellent post, Manish. And, hearty welcome to PRAJA.
When is the BMLTA, whose role one thought was of co-ordinating the plans of all the stake-holders involved, going to be getting down to business before more and more of such blunders get committed, costing the citizens dear in more ways than one.
Looks like we are going to have more and more edifices like the Richmond circle fly-over dotted all over the city.
Muralidhar Rao
idontspam - 3 January, 2009 - 07:40
BMLTA has been the most dissapointing organization so far. I still dont know what they have achieved
Vasanth - 4 January, 2009 - 03:17
Yesterday while I was travelling on the Mysore road, I was thinking on the same lines. Most of the Mysore travellers coming in bus say that Bangalore can be reached in 3 hours, but reaching Majestic takes 1 more hour making the total travel time 4 hours. (Volvos 1 hour early, 2 hours).Plus the commute from Majestic till home as well as commute in Mysore makes it whooping 5 and sometimes even 6 hours to travel hardly 140 kms. With MCTC bus stand integrated with Metro station, it would have virtually removed that extra 1 hour commute from Nayandahalli to Majestic.
Hence to reach south Bangalore people use bus and get down at Nayandahalli or Vijaynagar. People travelling to Majestic and forward use train from Mysore since it takes only 10-15 minutes from Nayandahalli to station by train. Another thing I was mentioning was the improvement of station facilities of Nayandahalli to integrate with Metro (if mono comes mono) and it is a candidate of TTMC too.
If KSRTC is people oriented (which it is ought to be), then it can link Nayandahalli station / with MCTC via a Mono like airport trains.
Corporation Circle is another important location for BMTC buses and good integration of Metro is needed here.
who has the power then? Abide?
blrsri - 5 January, 2009 - 09:46
Suresh Kumar or BSY himself maybe..we need to get across to them to get them corrected ASAP!
PRAJA.IN COMMENT GUIDELINES
Posting Guidelines apply for comments as well. No foul language, hate mongering or personal attacks. If criticizing third person or an authority, you must be fact based, as constructive as possible, and use gentle words. Avoid going off-topic no matter how nice your comment is. Moderators reserve the right to either edit or simply delete comments that don't meet these guidelines. If you are nice enough to realize you violated the guidelines, please save Moderators some time by editing and fixing yourself. Thanks!