BENGALURU: The city’s Bus Priority Lane (BPL) is likely to have bollards again after Joint Commissioner (traffic) B R Ravikanthe Gowda and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) managing director C Shikha suggested the same to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner B H Anil Kumar.
Gowda said, “Without infrastructure, it is difficult for traffic personnel to curb violations. We have suggested service road and pedestrian crossings too on the lane,” he told TNIE. The BBMP has taken up the initiative which will be based on (Directorate of Urban and Land Transport (DULT) designs.
Speaking to Anil Kumar, he said, “We are waiting for the government’s approval as the whole project costs between Rs 13 crore to Rs 16 crore and they will be Fibre Reinforced Bollards (FRB). Funds are available and we will start the work soon.”
Last year, in what can be called a ‘trial-failure’, the much-awaited BPL, which had its trial since October 20, had to do away with its metal bollards after the occurrence of accidents. The BBMP had then decided to temporarily use plastic interlocking barricades until the corporation finds a permanent solution to keep other vehicles from entering. However, nothing had come into place.
More than a month after the 20-km BPL on Outer Ring Road (ORR) came into effect, commuters had started to say that the idea is slowly failing due to the lack of strict enforcement. The BPL on the Central Silk Board-KR Puram stretch of the Outer Ring Road was started on November 15 last year, in order to improve bus commuting time and encourage people to switch to public transport thereby reduce traffic congestion in the city.
The BPL is a dedicated lane for buses. Other vehicles entering the BPL would be fined up to Rs 500 for the first offence or Rs 1,000 from December 1, 2018. However, commuters told TNIE earlier the lack of strict enforcement by traffic police or marshals has made the BPL almost redundant.
The BMTC had also installed CCTV cameras in 20 of its buses on pilot-basis which is done with the help of Indian Institute of Science (IISc). “The camera data is being shared with the traffic police at the end of the day. They have requested us for the time and place of the violation which is GPS record. This is being incorporated by IISc,” Shikha told TNIE.