BANGALORE: Fairly clean platforms, mediocre security measures, inadequate navigation tools, unused subway and insufficient lighting facility, this is Shantinagar Bus Station for you. Located near the central office of KSRTC and BMTC, the depot is considered to be the second largest bus terminal after Majestic, connecting to the South and South-East Bangalore. The terminal does not only link one part of the city to the other, but also has outstation buses loading and unloading here.
Although the bold BMTC written in gold outside the depot throws an image of a multi-national company, it fails to hide the stark reality of the actual work.
Despite being well organised as far as its different bays as concerned (the first bay is for BMTC buses going to Shivajinagar, second one is for those going to Majestic, third bay is for those coming from Shivajinagar/Majestic and going to other places and the fourth bay is for out-station buses), the terminal scores poor when it comes to the basic amenities at the depot.
Broken benches, tapless water dispenser, inappropriate lighting, shoddy navigation tools and absence of an enquiry counter, the situation definitely does not etch out a pleasant picture of the terminal.
Three-storeyed structure with tinted glass, steel railings and tiled walls surely cannot make up for the absence of the basic facilities that commuters crave for.
Extended over a fairly large area with thousands of footfalls and hundreds of BMTC buses using the depot everyday, the terminal lacks on adequate seating arrangement, despite having enough space to come up with few more. One can see people standing at the platform and waiting for the buses due to the absence of enough benches to sit on. “Number of chairs for commuters is one problem at the bus stand. A few of them are broken but no one is bothered to get them repaired. We are left with no other option than to stand and wait for our respective buses,” said Komal R, a regular commuter at the bus depot.
Although the depot has a huge city map pasted across the tiled wall to facilitate and ease out the confusion, the authorities at the bus stand seem to be in no hurry to replace the torn-out and blurred direction tool, let alone services like the public address system, pointers and enquiry counter which seems to be a far cry.
“Although the bus stand fairs well as far as cleanliness is concerned, navigation facility at the depot is crippled. The map is in a sorry state since months but no one seems to be bothered about it,” said Rajiv S, a regular commuter at Shantinagar Bus Terminal.
“As far as the torn out city map is concerned, we have given a request to Central Traffic Manager (CTM) and it should be replaced soon,” said a BMTC official on the condition of anonymity.
Although one can see two steel water dispensers at the platform, they seem to be serving no purpose. Out of two water dispensers installed, one of the them has no tap attached to it and the other has dirty and rusted iron chains holding the glass stands with equally dirty steel glasses hanging by them. “There is no proper drinking water facility at the depot. The dispensers are dirty and no one can dare to use them,” said S B Tejas, a student of Rupani College and a regular commuter at the bus depot.
“The water problem is due to the Traffic and Transit Management Centres (TTMC) work that is going on currently. Soon the problem should be sorted out,” said the BMTC official.
The depot is poorly lit and the subway constructed for taking commuters from one platform to another seems to be attracting none