BENGALURU: Commuters in Bengaluru are all too familiar with bus-stops near traffic signals, and stoppages there affecting the flow of traffic. To address the issue, the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) have proposed to relocate 110 such bus-stops.
The two organisations wrote a joint letter to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), but the transition to Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) seems to have hampered the progress of the project.
“The project will be taken up under the public-private partnership model, and bus shelter agencies and local BMTC officials will be in charge of relocation. We had informed the agencies, but since BBMP got dissolved, I have not kept track. When new spots are fully assigned under GBA, things will be fast-tracked,” says Executive Engineer at GBA, Hariprasad.
While this remains a problem, an even bigger issue is buses stopping randomly on roads. Many prominent roads in the city, including Lower Agaram Road and 80 Feet Road, are narrow and suffer considerably with impromptu stoppages by BMTC buses. There are also complaints of buses stopping before or after bus-stops, Balekundri Circle being one of the best examples.
This can be partly attributed to taxis and autorickshaws parking at the bus-stops, not leaving space for buses, said GT Prabhakar Reddy, Chief Traffic Manager (Operation) at BMTC. On buses stopping randomly, he said, “We have patrol vehicles to ensure this does not happen. Errant drivers are slapped with notices and fines.”
Asked if more stops should be added, he said the average distance between bus-stops in the city is 500 metres and there is no need for more.
