Bus bays will be a reality soon

Bus bays will be a reality soon
Thursday August 14 2008 04:40 IST

Faiza Haneef | ENS

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BANGALORE: The Bruhut Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is all set to work on the much-awaited bus bay project to bring in a system of parking of BMTC buses in the City. Though it was taken up in November, the project did not materialise due to some technical snags.

Now, the BBMP had called tenders again to work on the construction of 100 bus bays at identified roads. The work is expected to commence soon after the tender process is completed.

"The bus bays should have been in place by now. Due to some technical problem, the tenders called by the BBMP in November 2007 were not approved and we had to wait for almost 10 months to call fresh tenders. However, the project will begin soon," said a senior BBMP official.

The BBMP will take up the work at an approximate cost of Rs 5 crore. The BMTC has released Rs 2 crore to the BBMP with a promise of another Rs 2 crore.

"With the increase in the number of buses every year, parking is a serious concern. Despite repeated instructions to park at designated points and not to overtake, especially at bus stops, drivers continue to do so. Designated bus bays will help solve the issue," said a BMTC official.

Sources from the Traffic Engineering Cell (TEC) of the BBMP said that the work is likely to begin in a month and will be completed in three months.

However, with the ongoing road widening work in progress, the BBMP will have to wait to complete that work.

Work on the bus bays will be taken up in 25 packages- each handling four bus bays costing Rs 5 lakh. Locations have been decided depending on the availability of roadside space as well as the traffic volume.

With bus bays in place, the next challenge is forcing the BMTC drivers to stick to the bays.