BENGALURU: A flyover, literally, is meant to help traffic fly over. But, not in KR Puram.
On the KR Puram flyover, with its unending and frustrating traffic jams, is a makeshift bus stop. This poor planning would’ve slowed vehicles down but no one — not the commuters or the bus drivers — uses the stop.
Instead all concerned are confused about where the bus stop is supposed to be and a long queue extends from the base of the flyover to the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation bus-stop board. The BMTC bus stop is indicated further into the flyover but even the buses stop at the entry.
This flyover is en route to places such as Hoskote and Andhra Pradesh. So, though this stop is exclusively for BMTC buses, private buses and Karnataka State Transport Corporation buses also stop here. This further adds to the disorder.
DCP (Traffic) East, CK Baba, said “This bus stop is only temporary. It will be removed completely later and shifted to ITI Gate. Thus buses will stop at MM Temple and then go directly to the ITI Gate stop.”
Constable Shivanand Rathore said “Traffic is choc-a-bloc here between 4 pm and 8 pm.” The rush is bringing in other troubles. “There is also rampant pick-pocketing and mugging,” he said. “Just the other day there was a complaint filed regarding the loss of Rs 50,000.”
Another police constable of KR Puram said “We repeatedly tell the passengers to wait at the designated bus stop. But when the traffic police are absent, the passengers trickle back to the bottom of the flyover. We also find it difficult to keep watch at all times because we are under-staffed.”
Balaji, who was en route Kolar said “Initially, the original bus stop was at the beginning of the flyover. Then it got shifted further up. But people are so used to waiting at the bottom, they hardly ever use the new one.”
When one bus driver was quizzed as to why he stopped before the demarcated bus stop, he replied “What is the big deal if we stop here?”
Most drivers identify bus stops by locating a huddle of passengers. One driver even said that he has not identified the stop on the flyover, as all the commuters wait below.
Urban planning expert V Ravichander said, “It does not make sense to construct a bus stop at the base or above the flyover. Bus drivers should be instructed to stop halting there.”