HOT TOPICS
SPOTLIGHT AGENCIES
Missing the bus
SB_YPR - 2 January, 2009 | Bangalore | BMTC | TTMC | Namma Metro | Analysis | BMRC | Integration | Mobilicity | Metro Rail
Hi, Warm greetings to all of you for the new year. I have been reading the posts on this forum for a while now, and today I decided to take the plunge myself.
The BMRC has been hyping on integration with other modes of transport right from the beginning. Sadly, they have overlooked two crucial spots where integration would have been of great help, on the East-West corridor.
The first is in Vijayanagar, on Chord Road. BMTC recently started construction of a TTMC at its erstwhile depot (location 0, marked "Vijayanagar Depot" in the map below). At the time of commencing construction, no mention was made about possible integration with the Metro. The BMRC, on the other hand, proposes to build the Vijayanagar station a good 750 m away, (location 1, along the curve near Prasanna Ganapati Temple in the map below). Neither have they made any mention about integration with BMTC. So, BMRC has lost an excellent opportunity to sync with BMTC, which could have provided feeder services to Nagarbhavi, Basaveshwaranagar etc. With the long gap between the two, passengers wishing to change modes will have to undergo a long walk, putting them to inconvenience, and the advantages offered by the TTMC/station (shelter, refreshments, escalators etc.) will come to naught. [gmap markers=numbers::12.965374319161853,77.5348949432373 + 12.960188429734616,77.53322124481201 |zoom=15 |center=12.963178693681563,77.53459453582763 |width=500px |height=400px |control=Small |type=Map]
The second, more glaring, example is that of the MCTC satellite bus terminus on Mysore Road. Here, the Metro would have been even more useful, coming to the assistance of long-distance KSRTC travellers as well (the MCTC terminus is not very well connected at present). But as things stand, the proposed Metro station at Deepanjali Nagar (location 0, marked "Deepanjalinagar Bus depot" in the map below) is almost 1 km from the MCTC bus terminus (location 1, marked "KSRTC statellite bus station" in the map below). All that BMRC had to do was to consult the BBMP, and reroute its alignment above the SW drain upto Gali Anjenayaswamy temple, and construct a station there (location 2 in the map below) to connect to the MCTC terminus. But now, BBMP is in full swing constructing a road flyover on the same alignment, so it is now too late for BMRC. [gmap markers=numbers::12.950778273916194,77.53708362579345 + 12.953204036982567,77.54364967346191 + 12.953120390373486,77.54120349884033 |zoom=15 |center=12.950401860289041,77.5420618057251 |width=500px |height=400px |control=Small |type=Map]
Lack of coordination? Plain laziness? Or just ignorance of ground realities? Whatever the case, BMRC has certainly missed the bus here, and it is we Bangaloreans who will have to run after the bus - literally.
Regards,
~~~~
Manish,
Nagarbhavi.
COMMENTS
BMLTA - a toothless tiger
mcadambi - 3 January, 2009 - 08:38
There was a report sometime back in 'The Hindu' wherein Gaurav Gupta, the commissioner of BMLTA stated that BMLTA does not have statutory powers. And that it's reccomendations are just to be taken on paper or not even that.
Without such powers, BMLTA is a toothless tiger.
In Bangalore, the RTA (Road Transport Authority) can at best fix fares for autorickshaws and easycabs!
blundering along
murali772 - 3 January, 2009 - 06:54
Excellent post, Manish. And, hearty welcome to PRAJA.
When is the BMLTA, whose role one thought was of co-ordinating the plans of all the stake-holders involved, going to be getting down to business before more and more of such blunders get committed, costing the citizens dear in more ways than one.
Looks like we are going to have more and more edifices like the Richmond circle fly-over dotted all over the city.
Muralidhar Rao
Connecting the disconnects
idontspam - 3 January, 2009 - 07:40
Good analysis Manish. This is exactly why we are never able to get anything going in Bangalore. There is nobody who can put up a comprehensive plan and ensure everything matches up to it.
BMLTA has been the most dissapointing organization so far. I still dont know what they have achieved
Exactly Manish
Vasanth - 4 January, 2009 - 03:17
Yesterday while I was travelling on the Mysore road, I was thinking on the same lines. Most of the Mysore travellers coming in bus say that Bangalore can be reached in 3 hours, but reaching Majestic takes 1 more hour making the total travel time 4 hours. (Volvos 1 hour early, 2 hours).Plus the commute from Majestic till home as well as commute in Mysore makes it whooping 5 and sometimes even 6 hours to travel hardly 140 kms. With MCTC bus stand integrated with Metro station, it would have virtually removed that extra 1 hour commute from Nayandahalli to Majestic.
Hence to reach south Bangalore people use bus and get down at Nayandahalli or Vijaynagar. People travelling to Majestic and forward use train from Mysore since it takes only 10-15 minutes from Nayandahalli to station by train. Another thing I was mentioning was the improvement of station facilities of Nayandahalli to integrate with Metro (if mono comes mono) and it is a candidate of TTMC too.
If KSRTC is people oriented (which it is ought to be), then it can link Nayandahalli station / with MCTC via a Mono like airport trains.
Corporation Circle is another important location for BMTC buses and good integration of Metro is needed here.
who has the power then? Abide?
blrsri - 5 January, 2009 - 09:46
These are really glaring examples of total lack of co-ordination..who is the ultimate approval authority for all projects?
Suresh Kumar or BSY himself maybe..we need to get across to them to get them corrected ASAP!
TTMC nothing but Park & Ride
Vasanth - 14 January, 2009 - 17:44
TTMC as I see what BMTC is trying to do is nothing but a park and ride and may look like the Shivajinagar bus stand. What we want is local shuttles roaming around TTMCs and all the TTMCs to be connected. This really requires renumbering and rerouting of the existing buses or adding new fleet of buses just to connect the TTMCs in addition to the existing fleet continuing to operate on existing routes with the exception of entering the TTMCs when constructed.
If this has to be the hub like the Narayan's image, then Metro stations should be the future TTMCs. But, Metro is not coming up with station designs with built in bus bays, rather they have parking facility. People may park and ride a Metro and very few may park and ride a BMTC.
TTMCs - Will they make a difference ?
Naveen - 14 January, 2009 - 15:45
Well analysed, Manish - & welcome.
You are very right - I'm not convinced either with this mumbo jumbo from the state govt & various agencies about measures for so-called 'seamless integration'.
It looks like as if some patchy efforts have been hurriedly put in place where possible, like byappanahalli to highlight the term, nothing more.
If questioned, I am sure they will come up with the same old excuse - quoting difficulties for land acquisition, etc. whilst life continues as usual, like a never-ending nightmare !
Missed the bus in Jayanagar too
s_yajaman - 20 January, 2009 - 13:31
For some reason the Metro gives the Jayanagar TTMC the skip too. My own route for the Metro would have avoided 4th Main and avoided cutting down trees on Nanda Road.
My route would have taken Namma Metro along Elephant Rock Road, 9th Main Road (next to the TTMC) and probably terminated it there. This could have covered the hinterland of Jayanagar, JP Nagar and BTM Layout by bus. If I had to extend it, I would take it towards Sanjay Gandhi hospital and terminated it somewhere near the bus depot there.
Srivathsa
Missed the bus?? not yet!!
Srivatsava - 23 January, 2009 - 04:01
Hi Manish,
If you arrive at the bus stop queue early, you can travel with comfort of seating. If you are arent too late, you have have to stand amongst the crowd, but you still dont miss the bus!!
Similarly here, this point has'nt been considered by the authorities early enough. Accepted. But, its not all over yet.
If I have understood the locations properly, the BMTC TTMC is coming up at the existing depot, near the Anjaneya temple and the Metro station is coming up near the petrol pump.
In such a case, the feeder busses can still start and terminate at the TTMC, while we only need a bus stop closer to the Vijaynagar Metro station. The buses can then proceed to Nagarbhavi, Attiguppe etc. Basaveshnagar can be connected by feeder buses to the Hosahalli or TollGate metro station. As per my perception, there is enough space available around the Vijaynagar Metro station to accomodate a bus-stop will a long enough and wide enough bus bay.
I would consider the second case and 'solution' provided as impractical. If the Deepanjali-nagar metro station was near the Gaali-Anjaneya temple, there is no land available for the metro to turn back towards Vijaynagar. Hence, I see this locations as just fine!!
For passengers coming from Mysore region by KSRTC buses, we need to explore the option of having a long bus bay near the Mysore Rd terminal(nayandhalli station, near Ring road intersection) so that the KSRTC buses stop there, but terminate only at MCTC.
Another option is to provide free shuttle buses every 10-15 mins from MCTC bus stand to Deepanjali-nagar depot!! In Singapore, SMRT provides such a link (from Little India to Chinatown metro stations), so that passengers do have to change to its competing MRT operator(SBS transit)!!
-Srivatsava V
http://srivatsava-vajapeyam.blogspot.com/
PRAJA.IN COMMENT GUIDELINES
Posting Guidelines apply for comments as well. No foul language, hate mongering or personal attacks. If criticizing third person or an authority, you must be fact based, as constructive as possible, and use gentle words. Avoid going off-topic no matter how nice your comment is. Moderators reserve the right to either edit or simply delete comments that don't meet these guidelines. If you are nice enough to realize you violated the guidelines, please save Moderators some time by editing and fixing yourself. Thanks!