Construction of bus-bay moving at snail’s pace

Construction of bus-bay moving at snail’s pace
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: It is five months now after the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) started work on building a BMTC bus-bay at Balekundri Circle behind this website’s newspaper’soffice. There is no sign of the project nearing its end, and the agony of commuters waiting for buses continues.

The work was started in May this year and was expected to be completed within a month at an estimated cost of Rs 40 lakh. The delay in completing the work is causing more confusion among commuters.

Ever since the Central Street was made a one-way, BMTC buses coming from Shivajinagar bus stand have to pass through Balekundri circle. Meanwhile vehicles from Queen’s Road have to pass the same road. This had led to a severe traffic congestion.

To decongest the traffic, Lokayuktha had directed to construct a bay. The bay has three lanes, out of which one is for the private vehicles.

“The drivers do not bother to stop the buses in any particular space and commuters are finding it difficult to board buses. They keep running behind the buses which is quite dangerous,” Mahesh, a college student said.

Meena Bhat, another commuter, told this paper that they should construct shelters, as it is very difficult to stand on roads waiting for buses.

The Karnataka Land Army Corporation (KLAC) official said the project would be completed within 15 days.

Once the shelters are constructed, the buses will be stopped at specified places in the bus bay to ensure that there is no confusion among people.