Old Central Jail to be bus bay

Old Central Jail to be bus bay
The Times of India

Bangalore: The old Central Jail area is now set to serve one more purpose — apart from accommodating demonstrations, public gatherings and a parking lot — a bus bay for private buses.
In a bid to decongest Gandhinagar and adjacent areas of private buses, the traffic police have hit upon this novel idea. “The sixacre land is being planned as a car and two-wheeler parking area. Since there is private bus traffic between 8 pm and 8 am in the vicinity, this parking lot could double up as a bus bay at night,” said DCP traffic (east) M A Saleem.
This parking lot can accommodate around 150 to 175 private buses. Although Gandhinagar sees a traffic of around 300 buses, Saleem does not foresee a congestion issue. “These buses arrive and depart at different timings, so this area will be able to accommodate all the buses. Once we make parking compulsory here, we will ban it in all other parts.”
This plan is likely to be implemented in the first half of this year. It seems to have taken a cue from KSRTC, which shifted 400 of its 575 routes to the Mysore Road Satellite bus station from the centrally located Kempe Gowda bus station on January 1.
“Not just Mysore-bound buses, but buses bound to destinations around and beyond Mysore ply from the satellite bus station,” said Kempe Gowda bus station divisional controller Prakash Babu. This includes destinations like Kollegal, Malavalli, KR Nagar, Kushalnagar and Madikeri.
Buses that ply between destinations like Tumkur and Chikballapur to Mysore via Bangalore will also halt at the satellite bus station.
To facilitate commuting between Majestic and the satellite bus station, 25 mini buses have been deputed. The flat fare on these buses is Rs 3.
Ticket holders of buses bound to or from the satellite bus station get a Rs 3 discount.
“Initially, we offered free shuttle service, but found that many who were not KSRTC passengers boarded these buses. So KSRTC hit upon this idea,” Babu said.
Luxury buses — Airavat (Volvo), Rajahamsa and Mayuri — will continue to ply from Kempe Gowda bus station.
“We are also considering shifting out government buses from other state corporations like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh to another satellite bus station. But we haven’t zeroed in on a location,” he said.
NEW DESTINATION FOR PRIVATE BUSES
Taking a cue from KSRTC which shifted 400 of its 575 routes to the Mysore Road Satellite bus station from Majestic, the traffic police have hit upon the idea to decongest Gandhinagar