BANGALORE: It is a known fact that the number of vehicles on road is increased leading to traffic chaos everyday.
Adding to this is the placement of bus stops right next to traffic signals at major junctions in the city.
A reality check conducted by the City Express, shows that the city has several similar locations. For example: The NIMHANS stop for buses heading towards Kormangala, Electronic City and Hosur among other places. “We wait at the traffic signal for more than a minute. When the signal goes green, the BMTC buses immediately start moving towards its left and halts at the bus stop. This blocks half of the road forcing vehicles coming behind to stop. The situation worsens when more than one bus stops at the bus stop,” says Madhu M, an employee with Narayana Hrudayalaya, who uses this road. Okalipuram Junction, Mysore Circle, Magadi Road, Dasarahalli, Navrang Junction, Arekere Gate, C M H Road, Domlur and Marathahalli are some of the other stops that come immediately after the signal. Some of these stops are situated on narrow roads leading to severe bottle necks.
When City Express spoke to Managing Director, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, K Srinivas, he said: “Choosing the location of bus stops is jointly done by Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, Traffic Department and BMTC.
The traffic department has already submitted a proposal to re-locate some of the bus stops in the city. The norm is that a space of 500 mts is necessary between two bus stops. There are many problems to solve before taking up a re-location and we should be careful while doing so. Nobody likes to have a bus stop in front of their commercial establishment or their home. For instance, the Check-post stop at Kormangala has to be relocated. But, it means moving the stop almost a kilometer away from the existing one. But, we have plans to re-locate some crucial ones in consultation with the traffic department.” Meanwhile, the traffic police are clear on their requirements.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Dr M A Saleem said, “We have identified 122 bus stops which are in close proximity to signals.
Last month, we sent a proposal to the BMTC to re-locate these stops at least 150 meters away from the existing ones.
This process will be jointly undertaken by BBMP and BMTC.” This news though does not bode well with the bus users as it means that the distance to cover by foot to reach the stops will increase.
“In the BMTC commuter’s point of view, it is convenient to have bus stops at junctions because those who need to change buses can do so at the junctions rather than walking up to the other bus stand,” explains Sreedhar, a volunteer with Hasiru Usiru and who is working on a project to highlight the problems faced by BMTC commuters.
It remains to be seen as to how the various organisations are going to implement a plan that causes the least inconvenience.