140 bus bays to be constructed in the city

140 bus bays to be constructed in the city

Anil Kumar Sastry

BMTC has released Rs. 2 crore to the BBMP

The BMTC has promised another Rs. 2 crore for the work

Tenders have been invited for 100 bus bays of the 140 proposed

— Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.

Chaotic: The bus-stop on the busy Cunnigham Road in Bangalore. Construction of bus bays is expected to ease the inconvenience to other road-users.

BANGALORE: With Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses stopping in the middle of the already choked roads to pick up and drop passengers and worsening the traffic flow, the authorities have planned to construct bus bays at 140 locations in the city.
Inconvenience

The BMTC management, realising the inconvenience being caused to other road-users, has come forward to fund construction of the bays, and it has already released Rs. 2 crore to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) with a promise to release Rs. 2 crore more.

By providing bus bays, the corporation also plans to rein in its drivers who are known for haphazard parking of buses on roads.

Provision for bus bays, which has been the responsibility of the local administration (BBMP), was glaringly absent on almost all roads in the city, compelling bus drivers to park on the road itself, near wayside bus stops.

While the inconvenience was not felt much when the number of vehicles was less a few years ago, the problem has become pronounced with the increasing number of vehicles on Bangalore roads, which has now touched 32 lakh.

The Traffic Engineering Cell (TEC) of the BBMP has taken up construction of the bays and has invited tenders for 100 bus bays out of 140 proposed by the BMTC.

A senior official of the cell told The Hindu that construction was likely to begin in a month and completed in three months.

He said the BBMP had formed three packages – East, West and South – for execution of the project.

Locations will be decided depending on the availability of roadside space as well as the traffic volume on the road.
Space problem

The BBMP on its own was constructing 40 bus bays, the process of which began in 2003, the official pointed out.

He said that work on 28 bays out of 40 was under progress, work on the rest was pending for lack of suitable location.

The problem was in availability of space on the roadside, and with every road often being widened it has become difficult for the BBMP to locate suitable places.

Once the bus bays were in place, drivers would have to park the buses inside the bays and non-compliance would be viewed seriously, BMTC Managing Director Upendra Tripathy said.

Despite repeated instructions to park buses as close as possible to footpaths and not to overtake at bus stops, drivers were not adhering to the instructions.

Bus bays, thus, would be the appropriate method to curb this tendency, Mr. Tripathy added.