BANGALORE: Citing ‘traffic jams’ as the reason, a bus stop at the busy Richmond Circle Junction was removed on Wednesday. This meant that thousands of commuters had to wait in the scorching sun to board 500 BMTC buses that pass by this junction towards various destinations in the city. In a swift move, the traffic police forbid any BMTC bus from stopping at this important junction which connects South Bangalore to Central Bangalore. Meanwhile, the people who board a bus from this junction were left in the lurch the entire day.
They claimed that removing a bus stop that they use on daily without informing citizens is not right.
“We had been waiting at this bus stop for over an hour and none of the buses stopped. Some of us had to walk down to the next bus stop near Pallavi Theatre. Some took autos. They should at least inform people about a changed rule,” said Venkatesh Babu, a passenger.
The traffic police argued that the bus stop was illegal. “BMTC cannot have a bus stop at a junction ,” said M A Saleem, ACP (Traffic). BMTC sources revealed that top bosses from the corporation are now looking closely at shutting down other illegal bus stops.