BMTC services far from good on Banneraghatta Road

BMTC services far from good on Banneraghatta Road
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The Banneraghatta Road may be termed as one of the most important roads in the city with many MNCs like Oracle having their offices along with education institutions, temples and the Banneraghatta National Park located on it. But the bus service on this road is far from good.

Hundreds of people wait for buses to their destinations on the road at the East End circle, Jayanagar every morning. “We have to wait for a bus for around 45 minutes to one hour every morning,” says Sonia, a student in a college near the BNP.

“Even when we do get the bus, it is too crowded and dirty,” says Abhisekh, another student from the same college. Nirma Das, another student says,” I hate going to college just because I have to board those buses.”

The bus service has not been improved to match the rising number of apartments and offices in areas by the road. Biswajit, an employee with a software company on that road says, “The situation is bad. You need a personal vehicle if you want to travel by this road,” Anu, a media person says, “I rather take an auto than a bus. Who wants to wait that long.”

“This is only because of the traffic in the peak hours. The people board the first bus after a long time and the later buses go empty,” says Dastagir Sherrif, Chief Transport Manager BMTC. Surprisingly, during this time there are private buses catering to the commuters.

“The situation is not different in the afternoon while returning from college. We still have to wait long.” says Sonia.

“I prefer taking private buses rather than wait so long even though private buses take longer time to reach,” says Sukanya, a student. “I waited from 1.30 pm to 3 pm (today) for a bus while returning from college,” says Archana. There are apparently no buses in the afternoon.

Ambika N a resident in one of the apartments at the road says, “You have to wait for atleast 30 minutes to get a bus, the terrible condition of the road adds to trouble.”

Rupesh has something different to say, “The situation is ok in the afternoon but the misery continues. This makes me think if the drivers purposefully don’t drive in the morning as they can’t handle the rush,” The drivers deny this for sure.

“Our customers our valuable to us,” says Upendra Tripathy. He promises to send a team to check the situation and make amends wherever required.

Check or no check, commuters have little to lose as many believe that it cannot get worse than this.