QUEEN’S ROAD: The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation’s attempt to decongest the Central Business District (CBD) by moving various inter-state and intra-state buses to satellite bus stands appears to have failed. Due to poor response from passengers, KSRTC has decided to shut down the Byappanahalli Satellite Bus Stand, which was built last year.
The bus stand was constructed at a cost of Rs 1.2 crore to cater to passengers travelling to Andhra Pradesh and Kolar district. However, it saw little traffic as a majority of passengers preferred to board buses from Old Madras Road and Tin Factory.
KSRTC managing director Rajender Kumar Katariya said, “We have decided to hand over the land back to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) as it requires the land. The bus stand has failed to serve its purpose. Passengers did not use it because of poor connectivity from the city.”
At present, the Andhra Pradesh State Road Corporation (APSRTC) uses the Byappanahalli stand to park its buses. These buses will now be shifted to Peenya.
The only satellite bus stand that is now operational and sees good passenger traffic is the one on Mysore Road that falls under the Mysore City Transport Corporation (MCTC). The stand is located about 2 km from Sirsi Circle.
The idea was to set up satellite bus stands in various corners of the city to ease traffic at Kempegowda Bus Station. For this, KSRTC also operated a shuttle service to the satellite stands but except to the Mysore Road stand, there were few passengers. This was because while state transport buses were moved to the satellite bus stands, private buses continued to operate from the centre of the city.
“Satellite bus stands will be needed as the bus density is increasing by the day. But for now, the authorities’ failure to tighten the noose around the private bus lobby has killed the idea,” Katariya said.
In March, KSRTC decided to resume bus services to Davangere, Hubballi, Ballari and Hosapete from Kempegowda Bus Station as the Basaveshwara Satellite Bus Stand in Peenya, which was set up in 2014 to cater to those travelling to these areas, was incurring heavy losses.
Failed plans
KSRTC was also planning to develop satellite bus stands as inter-modal transit centres. However, the cost of the project was estimated at around `1,200 crore. The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and KSRTC were to put in `400 crore each and private partners were invited to pump in the rest under public-private partnership (PPP) model for a build-and-operate arrangement. However, only one private partner came forward and with prices increasing with time, the idea was shelved.
KSRTC also wanted to build satellite bus stands near Silk Board and Yelahanka, but the projects failed to take off due to unavailability of land. Near Silk Board, 4 acres that belong to the Police Housing Corporation was to be acquired for the purpose, while in Yelahanka, the transport authority was eying land that belongs to the Gandhi Krishi Vignana Kendra. However, neither deal materialised.
“In the future, the city will need satellite bus stands so that CBD can be decongested. But for this to happen, the state government will have to come up with a concrete policy wherein all bus operators have to operate from the designated satellite bus stands only,” Katariya said.