Hebbal set to be transport hub

Hebbal set to be transport hub

Govind D. Belgaumkar

Seven stations of Metro will re-orient public transport in city


BANGALORE: Seven of the 37 proposed metro railway stations will emerge as transport hubs where people can change from one mode of transport to another by the end of 2011 when the Metro network is fully operational.

The stations are Majestic, Byappanahalli, Peenya, Yeshwanthpur, Swastik, R.V. Road and Mysore Road. These are in Phase 1 of the Metro.

In Phase 2 of Metro, Hebbal is expected to emerge as a big transport hub as it will be connected to Central Silk Board and monorail, sources in the Government said. It will emerge as a key link to the international airport at Devanahalli.

These Metro hubs will provide the people the option of travelling in more than two modes of transport. They will be different from other stations, which will just have feeder bus services. The hub stations will be bigger and will have access to some of the alternative modes such as KSRTC buses, BMTC buses, autorickshaws, taxis, monorail, Indian Railways and airport.

According to BMRCL Managing Director V. Madhu, people alighting at Byappanahalli terminal will have options to travel by trains, KSRTC buses, BMTC buses, autorickshaws or taxies; Mysore Road terminal will have access to KSTRC, BMTC buses and monorail; Peenya station will be integrated with KSRTC and BMTC services in addition to autorickshaws and taxis while Yeshwanthpur station will have railway connectivity in addition to KSRTC, BMTC buses, autorickshaws and taxis.

Swastik station will be located close to the existing City Railway Station, main KSRTC bus terminal and Kempe Gowda bus terminal, will emerge as a natural transport hub. It will have access to autorickshaws and taxis. The R.V. Road terminal will have access to the monorail in addition to BMTC buses.

Although the north-south corridor ends at R.V. Road Terminal as planned earlier, Mr. Madhu told The Hindu that there was a plan to extend it up to J.P. Nagar to integrate it with the monorail. Efforts were on to identify the lands for the station.

Common ticket

The BMTC has plans to issue common ticket for the Metro, mono and feeder bus services. That means people could buy one ticket for a travel in the Metro and onward journey home after alighting from the Metro. Mr. Madhu said the BMTC and KSRTC were already thinking of offering common ticket and he hoped the required software and technology would be in place by the time the Metro begins operation.

The BMRC would talk to the representatives of autorickshaw and taxi drivers' associations a year later to explore the possibility of bringing these modes of transport in the common ticket. "It is too early to do that," Mr. Madhu said. However, the common ticketing facility would be announced much ahead of the scheduled operation of the Metro trains, he said.