Air travellers give the thumbs up for Vayu Vajra

Air travellers give the thumbs up for Vayu Vajra

Anil Kumar Sastry

Over 9,000 people used the service since Friday evening

BMTC operated 248 trips

Poor response to Suvarna (non-AC) services

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Convenient: A file picture of Vayu Vajra bus launched by the BMTC for travellers going to the international airport.

BANGALORE: It appeared that better sense prevailed on many air passengers who chose the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation’s Vayu Vajra (Volvo) buses to reach the newly opened Bengaluru International Airport or return home from the airport.

Apart from the high cost involved in hiring a taxi, traffic congestion and waste of resources made them to hop on these red beauties. More than 9,000 people used the Vayu Vajra service, plying on nine different routes since Friday evening till Saturday night in the 248 trips that the BMTC operated.

This correspondent took a Vayu Vajra from Kempe Gowda Bus Station (KBS) at 3.40 p.m., which reached BIA at 4.35 p.m., to gauge the public response and the performance of the new service. Many had left home much early as they did not know the exact time that would be taken to reach BIA from the city.

For Vandit Goyal, a student of R.V. Engineering College on Mysore Road, travelling by bus meant saving for himself as well as for society. Mr. Goyal used to pay Rs. 400 for an auto to reach HAL airport earlier. However, he paid just Rs. 150 for the autorickshaw and Rs. 100 for the bus.

Sengottu Velanfrom Chennai was on his way to Hyderabad. He stayed at Cantonment and came to KBS by autorickshaw. Mr. Velan said by paying Rs. 100, he could travel in comfort in the air-conditioned bus. S. Satya, a resident of Hanumanthanagar was on a holiday trip to Singapore with his wife and daughter.

Though his flight was at 9 p.m., he left early just to be on the safe side. “While I paid Rs. 300 for bus and Rs. 50 for autorickshaw to reach BIA, I would have paid not less than Rs. 800 had I hired a taxi,” he noted.

The bus service was helpful for Sharat Kanvy, a software engineer from Bangalore who has now shifted to Hyderabad.

Taking back his wife and son to Hyderabad, Mr. Kanvy said the service was cheaper and comfortable.

At the airport, B.K. Subba Rao, a retired MICO engineer, G.R. Nagabhushan, a retired scientist, and his wife Suujaya were inspecting the new service.

They had come in a car as it was the first time. They said that next time they would take Vayu Vajra.

Back from the airport, Amit Garg, chief engineer with Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd., Bhubaneswar, was in Vayu Vajra. “My wife told me about this service and I am happy with it,” he said.

However, there were not many takers for BMTC’s Suvarna (non air-conditioned) services.