MG Metro puts brakes on shopping on roads

MG Metro puts brakes on shopping on roads
Sunday October 28 2007 11:08 IST

Express News Service

BANGALORE: Every infrastructure development churns out a certain amount of disorderliness and the Metro Rail construction on M G Road is no different. The difference, perhaps, is that it is for the first time since the last century that the erstwhile South Parade is losing its charm.

With the carriage-way shrinking to half its width and no parking space left, regular shoppers are reluctant to venture into M G Road and this is translating into a dip in the sales figures of popular restaurants, showrooms and food malls.

“People used to reach here from Indiranagar within 10-15 minutes, but now it takes almost an hour because of the one-way system and long traffic jams. This is definitely affecting our sales figure,” says Cyrus Manuel, Manager of Ebony Restaurant.

Spencer’s Super food court on M G Road is another place facing a slump. “The dust from the construction site is affecting our food court outside the store,” says the in-charge at Spencer’s Super. The lack of parking space and the dust is evidently leading shoppers in search of alternate areas.

The first choice seems to be the numerous malls in the vicinity which one can get to without having to trudge past the metro construction site. Many people this paper spoke to preferred to go to malls where they had a wider range of choices, be it shopping, entertainment, food or parking, rather than getting caught for hours in a traffic pile-up.

Incidentally, a few shops located alongside the Metro’s path have shifted temporarily to Church Street, where parking space now comes at a premium. Ravindra, who used to shop at M G Road says, “My family now prefers to travel by an auto since it takes off the burden of looking for a parking space.”

Shoppers also complaint about the absence of a ‘U-turn’ at the M G Road - Brigade Road intersection, which means longer routes, increased wait and a complete pocket-pinch.