Metro set to outsmart counterparts in north

Metro set to outsmart counterparts in north

Deccan Herald

The City will have a single transport department that will club Metro and BMTC services together.



In Delhi, it has been projected that only 15 lakh people will use the upcoming Delhi Metro. In Kolkata, only 2.75 lakh people out of a population of 14 million travel by the Kolkata metro.

Contrary to this, the Bangalore Mass Rapid Transit Limited (BMRTL) has projected a passenger ridership of a whopping 8.2 lakh per day for Bangalore’s comparatively small population of 7 million - nearly half of that in Kolkata.

The promises are big, but will they be delivered? The ‘bigger picture’ seems to suggest it will. Fast forward into the next decade - the masterplan charted out for traffic management in the City will have a single ‘transport’ department that will club the Bangalore Metro and BMTC services together. Feeder systems


Which effectively means the BMTC buses will not ply on the routes of metro rail. BMTC buses will act as feeder systems essentially transporting passengers to metro stations and back.

As the passenger population will not be shared between the two modes of transport, the ridership will automatically increase,” explains KN Srivatsava, managing director of BMRTL.

The competition factor between the two departments will also be negated as they would come under the same authority, Srivatsava says, adding that revenue issues will also be sorted out with single ticketing.

Decongestion ensured

“Working together with the Bangalore Metro will ensure a consolidated flow of traffic that will decongest Bangalore’s traffic-ridden roads,” agrees Dr Upendra Tripathy, Chairman of BMTC.

“The Bangalore Metro can offer various methods of tackling the traffic problems in the City. A similar system is working very efficiently in cities like London, Paris and Lyon. In fact, the Delhi metro is also working on similar lines with the Delhi Transport Corporation,” Srivatsava added.