Bus Station Watch 4: Vijayanagar

The Vijayanagar bus stand right next to the traffic junction not only spells trouble for commuters but also causes traffic snarls.

Run, but first guess where the bus stops!
There is no bus-bay and all buses stop at the traffic junction, thus putting the passengers at risk.
Deccan Herald

If you have missed your morning fitness exercise and you reside in Vijayanagar, don’t sweat. Just try to get into a BMTC bus at Vijayanagar bus stand during peak hours. You will have done enough jogging and sweating to last the entire day.

In the absence of a proper bus stand, a platform, name and route boards and proper amenities for passengers, travellers at Vijayanagar bus stand, one of the busiest BMTC bus terminals in the city, are put to severe hardship. It is difficult to predict where exactly a bus will stop. Every time a bus arrives, passengers, irrespective of their age, have to run after it, risking their lives on the busy main road. As all buses stop right next to the traffic junction (it is where the bus stand is actually located), bus drivers seldom care about the travellers’ safety and drive away soon after the green signal at the junction. Incidents of women and aged persons getting hurt while boarding buses are common here.

As there is no designated place (or a bus bay) for the vehicles to stop, all buses at this stop (also called Maruthi Bande stop and Vijayanagar last stop) come to a halt at the same place on either side of the road. This causes traffic snarls, especially during morning and evening peak hours.Lack of an enquiry counter and name boards specifying bus routes has only added to the confusion. Passengers, especially those who are new to the city, have to depend on drivers and conductors to guide them to board the right bus. A simple lapse on the part of the passenger and he might land up in an unknown area of the City.

Basaveshwarnagar
It is ironical that though BMTC has constructed a full-fledged bus stand in Basaveshwarnagar — unlike in Vijayanagar — not many buses ply from here. Buses ply on only three destinations in the city — Majestic, Shivajinagar and Koramangala — from this place. To reach the rest of other areas, passengers have to walk up to the Havanur Circle, which is about half-a-km from the bus stand and Housing Board on Magadi Road, which is two km from the bus stand.

Though BMTC constructed this terminal over two years ago, it is yet to lay an asphalted road inside the station. However, the BMTC has not wasted time in leasing out shops at the bus terminal, which of course, earns it good amount of revenue.

COMMUTER CALLING

Gangaraj (Basaveshwarnagar): The Basaveswharnagar bus stand is of little use as hardly any buses ply from this point. The stand remains deserted round the clock. This despite the great demand for buses.

G Kumar (Vijayanagar): It is a great challenge to catch a bus here. Nowhere is it specified as to which bus should stop where and hence the buses stop everywhere! We have to run after them amidst heavy traffic, risking our lives.

Malleshaiah O S (Vijayanagar): There is no shelter for passengers to wait nor there is a public toilet. BMTC seems to be bothered about only hiking bus fares and has no time to solve problems of the passengers.

Vinod (Vijayanagar): If not anything else, an enquiry counter should be set up immediately. Otherwise, how will the passengers know which bus to take. Besides, there is an urgent need for displaying boards specifying bus routes and numbers.

BMTC RESPONSE
V Nagaraj, BMTC Assistant Traffic Manager
(in-charge Vijayanagar and Basaveshwarnagar bus stands)

The major problem is the lack of adequate space to station buses in Vijayanagar. We have recently set up a control point, where officials are working in two shifts a day to guide passengers. Boards displaying bus numbers and routes will soon be put up on either side of the Vijayanagar bus stop. To ease the congestion in Vijayanagar, people too have to cooperate and should stop standing on the road while waiting for buses. If there is a demand for more buses in Basaveshwarnagar, we will certainly look into it. Steps will also be taken to lay asphalt roads inside the Basaveshwarnagar bus stand.