BENGALURU: Steady rainfall over the past week has caused the cancellation of many bus trips in the city.
The police are scurrying about as snarls are reported at regular intervals from many neighbourhoods. The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation says its services are badly affected by the water-logging and jams.
“We are forced to cancel 15-20 per cent of our trips because of snarls caused by the continuous rain, not to speak of the potholes and puddles,” said Renukeshwar B C, Chief Manager (Operations), BMTC.
Commuters are upset because the long delays are disrupting their routine. Sandhya Reddy, who commutes between Madiwala and Electronics City, said, “For the past few days, taking BMTC buses has become a nightmare. Twice, I could not reach my office in time.”
KSRTC is better off because many of their buses ply at night, and don’t have to negotiate peak hour traffic or even enter busy locations such as Majestic. For example, buses headed for Tamil Nadu use the Shanthinagar bus terminus.
But cancellations have been frequent as passengers fail to reach the terminus in time.
KSRTC official said that it is when such crises strike that the passengers appreciates the need for satellite bus stands. Buses operating for Northern Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh were earlier planned from satellite bus stands at Peenya and Bayapannahalli, but the idea failed to pick up.
Now most of the buses operating on this routes have to ferry passengers from the central business district at the Kempegowda Bus Terminus and, due to the traffic snarls within the city, buses plying on these routes are getting delayed by more than an hour.