BENGALURU: With the entire Purple Line stretch from Whitefield to Kengeri set to be connected after the KR Pura to Baiyappanahahalli stretch gets commissioned soon, companies are going all out to ensure their staff use the Metro to commute. Companies have held multiple rounds of talks with BMTC on various options, to use buses from Whitefield or KR Pura Metro stations to their offices.
Chief PRO of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), B L Yashavanth Chavan, told TNIE, “Companies have shown a keen interest to goad employees to use Metro. Applied Materials Inc., a company located in ITPB (International Technology Park Bangalore), Whitefield, has already purchased 500 travel cards for their employees. It has already handed over 100 cards to the staff .”
The cost of a card is Rs 50 and it would be topped up by the company as per the requirement of the employees, a source said.
Auto firm Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s, Bidadi unit has also shown interest in encouraging employees to use Metro, said Chavan. “They are looking at purchasing national common mobility cards for their staff,” he added.
Rather than picking up their employees by the company bus from different areas across Bengaluru, they are exploring the possibility of picking up employees from a specific Metro station, the official added.
Outer Ring Road Companies Association president Manas Das said, “We are in the process of writing to the nearly 500 IT & BT companies that are part of our group to give their specific requirements, so that we can submit a combined request to BMRCL and BMTC. We are considering two options - hiring a full Chartered Bus by a company or having a bus along a specific route where multiple companies are located.”
A senior BMTC official said that an action plan was being formulated along with BMRCL and Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) to identify specific stations from where feeder buses can run, to maximize the benefit the for employees.