All the satellite bus stops and Traffic and Transit Management Centres (TTMCs) in the city were empty on Thursday.
“The Jayanagar TTMC saw only 12 buses during the day as compared to the 1,500 buses that pass through the terminus on regular days,” explained Manmath Rao who works at the enquiry counter of the terminus.
“From morning, only a few routes along 18, 25, 25E 2, 13 and 43 came in to the terminus. But the bus traffic picked up only by the evening,” Rao said.
Kempegowda Bus Terminal was almost empty. Till afternoon, there were no buses operating.
Mahek, an employee at a private firm, said she had to wait for several hours for a Malleswaram-bound bus.
A family was stranded at the Majestic bus stand with no buses to go to Chikmagalur. They lamented that a family member had expired on Wednesday night but they could not go. “They came to the bus stand at 5 am on Thursday and were not aware of the bandh. Till 10 am, they could not find even a private bus, leave alone the KSRTC buses,” a policeman said. The Mysore-Bangalore Highway also had very slow and sparse vehicular movement. Most of the signal lights were switched off throughout the city.
Niranjana Murthy, a traffic policeman at Nayandahalli Junction, observed that the vehicular movement was about 20 per cent. “The traffic was far from intense both towards and away from the city. The signal lights were turned off,” he said.