Shopperscaravan in City

Shopperscaravan in City

Nina C George



The shopping mall bus was introduced in the City after an extensive survey of the requirement of such a bus in the City. Traffic inspectors were sent out to assess the flow of traffic in the City and the congested parts. It was after a thorough study that the mall bus hit the roads and was directed toward the busiest of them.



The idea of a shopping mall bus was born from a desire to decongest City roads and facilitate shoppers go
mall-crawling without any hindrance. But one year later neither of these twin objectives have been achieved.
Yet, the shopping mall buses zoom around the City. They are crowded no doubt. But with the usual commuters and not the mall going crowd. Looks like shoppers simply refuse to take to public transport, preferring
instead to commute by their own vehicles.

There’s a shopping mall bus from Shivajinagar bus terminus every one and a half hours. The bus covers more than 200 km a day. It goes to ten major areas of the City before returning to the Shivajinagar terminus. The main malls and shopping complexes it covers are: Commercial Street, M G Road and Brigade Road, Garuda Mall, Lifestyle and Globus, Forum, Big Bazaar in Koramangala and the Big Bazaar on K H Road.

It takes about one-and-a-half hours to traverse the 20-km route which begins from Shivajinagar bus stand at 9:45 am and passes by Indian Express, Mayo Hall, Johnson Market, Adugodi, Hosur Road junction, Bangalore Dairy Circle, Wilson Garden Police Station, Bangalore Club and back to Shivajinagar Bus Stand.









The bus was introduced in the City after an extensive survey of the requirement of such a bus in the City. Traffic inspectors were sent out to assess the flow of traffic in the City and the congested parts. It was after a thorough study that the mall bus hit the roads and was directed toward the busiest of them.

“It was devised by our traffic department in consultation with mall managements in the City and a section of the commuters. We will not hesitate to put in more mall specials or connect the incoming ones anew. The idea is to benefit people and decongest the roads,” Managing Director, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, Upendra Tripathy told Metrolife.

Metrolife travelled the entire stretch and found that a majority of the people who hopped into the bus were officegoers, college students and those headed towards the Madivala Market. None who got off the bus walked into any of the malls.

Shoppers, said the bus conductor, hop in only on weekends. “It’s a cheap mode of transport and for a large family, this bus is ideal. On weekdays we have regular commuters getting in. This bus is easy and goes to all the major commercial areas in the City. That’s the main attraction,” says J M Balekai, the bus conductor.

Tickets are priced at Rs 10 and the earning per kilometre depends on the distance covered. The more the distance, more the money and vice-versa. Going by statistics available with Metrolife, the mall bus makes good money between August and November and doesn’t do too well until the next peak season, that is, August next.
“We have found many shoppers travelling. But there is nothing wrong in others using the bus. Shoppers have a definite pattern of travel, that is, on holidays and peak hours,” says Tripathy.

The bus introduced specifically for shoppers in the City would have run at a loss, and, in fact, may be still in the red, says an assistant traffic inspector. But Tripathy reasons that profit is not its raison d’etre. “We do not take into account purpose specific profit accounting. It goes by the organisation as a whole,” he adds.

The concept must catch on among people. Every innovative idea takes a while before it is accepted. But Tripathy is sure commuters will take to the idea of the mall bus. “I am sure the commuter will take the bus, they will have to. It is a novel idea that is a win-win situation for the commuter and the City,” he says.













Public speak on the mall bus:

The mall bus is surely fast and convenient. I travel by it to get to the
market and this bus gets you to the prime areas in a very short time. At least you don’t get stuck in traffic jams. This bus, being a small one, worms its way through.

V Saroja, resident of RT Nagar:

The mall bus takes me to the doorstep of my worksplace. This is the only attraction.

Sajjad Ulla, butcher at Total company in Koramangala:

I travel by the mall special because it passes through the commercial areas of the City and these are places where I need to go on a daily basis on work. I wish the bus were
bigger; it is so cramped now.

Vinu Managalam, marketing executive at the Week:

I have been travelling by this bus for six months now. It’s a great way to travel when one is running late for work. It’s fast and easy on my pocket.

Sarvanan P, engineer: