GROUNDED IN METRO REALITY

GROUNDED IN METRO REALITY
No traffic bottlenecks, no endless chaos on roads while going to office. Instead, a tension-free ride with your favourite book or magazine to keep you company. Isn’t that an average Bangalorean’s dream? K R Sreenivas and Smitha Rao give a perspective plan, hoping the dream will become real

The Times of India


Get into the act. Bangalore's choice is the Metro Rail. Period. It is fast, can carry over 50,000 peak hour peak direction traffic (phpdt), cheaper than any other mode of transport, comparable fares with bus transportation systems, quicker on the tracks and gives you all the comfort along with safety.

A Metro Rail link will decongest the roads, reduce accident rates and high-energy consumption and fuel wastage, have no air or sound pollution, and it will take care of the little space that is available for road-network expansion.

A Mono Rail link could be a feeder service as it cannot be a comparable option. For one, fares will be very high, which comes to an average three dollars for a trip, which when converted, will be close to Rs 150.

With the building of a Metro Rail link from Yeshwantpur to RV Road and Mysore Road to Byappanahalli in Phase-I, the ground for providing a smooth transportation system and discouraging two-wheeler and even four-wheeler riders from the roads, will be set in motion.


The government will then have to take up work on Phase-II of the project — connecting Byappanahalli to Whitefield and beyond, extending the link from RV Road to Koramangala and across to Marathahalli via HSR Layout; another link from RV Road to Kanakapura Road connecting it to Hosur Road at Electronics City; building a link from Madiwala junction to Electronics City along Hosur Road, extending Yeshwantpur to Peenya and beyond, linking Mysore Road up to Kengeri.

Simultaneously, the government has the arduous task of connecting the city to Devanahalli International airport that is coming up at a fast pace. The rail link will have to be ready before the new airport is commissioned, but the government seems to be dragging its feet over it.

UB chairman Vijay Mallya recently voiced concern over how somebody living in Whitefield, or those travelling from Electronics City, will be able to reach the new airport in good time. The road network, even if improved, will not be the answer to cover 40 km traversing the city. Why isn't it clear to the government, when it is clear to all citizens of Bangalore? Chief minister H D Kumaraswamy had a ready answer, though: "We will do it in the second phase''!

Zero in on: Bangalore's lifeline are autorickshaws. It will be impossible to ban them, but like in Mumbai, the transport and police authorities will have to draw up a detailed plan to introduce zoning of autorickshaws. This would ensure that autos act as feeder services to better transport systems like the Metro Rail.

Bus systems too will have to be integrated, operating on routes not covered by rail networks. BMTC's plying of Volvo buses is a good move. But their route plans have to be changed so that they do not duplicate the Metro Rail routes. This process will, however, have to be gradual. Helipads for VVIPs: With so much of VVIP movement happening on Bangalore's roads, it is high time the city had helipads in different directions. They could be built at Whitefield, Electronics City, UB City that is coming up in the heart of the Central Business District (CBD), on Banashankari-Mysore Road, Bannerghatta Road, and one near IISc, Bangalore.

Let there be transit flights

One of Bangalore's biggest attractions in the next couple of decades will be its international airport — it could become a hub for the entire South Asian region, like Singapore and Dubai airports.

That should be a strong reason for the Union civil aviation ministry to change its policy on foreign carriers operating into India. Today, no airline coming into any destination in India can operate beyond an Indian city. For example, a Lufthansa German Airline flight can operate only between Frankfurt and Bangalore and go back to Frankfurt, it cannot go on to Kuala Lumpur from Bangalore.

When the Devanahalli international airport is commissioned, foreign carriers should be allowed to operate beyond Bangalore. This would open up several opportunities for the city, not just as a corporate\leisure destination but also as a major transit airport. Also, transit flights

into Bangalore mean more opportunities for business at the airports, more jobs for locals, and helps to sell the city as a brand across the globe.

What about HAL airport? What happens to the existing HAL airport, given Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL)'s stand that all flights have to operate out of the new airport and the HAL airport will be closed for civilian flights?

May be, HAL should pitch in for operating chartered flights, whose numbers are only increasing. Also, as the city grows, it is only pertinent to use the HAL airport to operate flights to regional cities within south India.
How about seamless travel?

At any public fora on infrastructure, transport, futuristic projects et al, the consensus reached without much ado is the immediate need for integrated transport/travel. Why the immediacy? Well, check out a typical everyday situation, and you'll get your answer:

Rakshita Sharma, an employee of a software firm at Electronics City, drives to Shivajinagar from her house at Kamalanagar, parks her vehicle at the second-floor parking lot, takes an autorickshaw to MG Road where an office bus drops her to the workplace. Three modes of transport already.

When Metro Rail hits the track, she's hoping to hop on from her home to the station at Navarang. That's of course, many years later!

One of the things promised by BMRC is seamless or integrated travel. For this, they have planned five major transport hubs. The area at Majestic will be one of the biggest transport hubs offering facilities of KSRTC, BMTC, Metro Rail and possibly Mono Rail too.

Peenya will be another hub; BMRC has acquired 100 acres of defence land for the purpose. Here again, even if a passenger has landed from Mysore in a KSRTC bus, she can hop on to a Metro Rail 100 metres away, the concept being that transport hubs should be one-stop-shop for all forms of transport.

TRAFFIC INTEGRATION
Inter-city buses to terminate on city outskirts City bus corridors shall not run parallel to Metro corridors Three-wheelers (autos) to be regulated on certain roads Public parking to be provided at major Metro stations Feeder bus services at all Metro stations Common ticketing for Metro and feeder buses