Discipline the autos, buses in the city

Discipline the autos, buses in the city


Monica Jha
First Published : 07 Nov 2008 09:32:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 07 Nov 2008 11:38:22 AM IST

BANGALORE: Commuters waiting for buses at bus stops, running towards their buses that stop with a creaking noise, a little away from the bus stop in the middle of the road, is a common sight in Bangalore.

This is due to the lack of a proper system of demarcation of bus stops.

There are even instances of buses stopping quite a distance from the bus stop. Most bus stops also lack bus bays. Buses stopping in the middle of the road or at traffic junctions could even put the lives of passengers at risk.

“Narrow roads constitute 60 per cent of the total road network in Bangalore and only the rest 40 per cent are appropriate for bus transport.

It is difficult to demarcate bus stops and make bus bays on the already formed narrow roads,” says Chairman of Traffic Engineers and Safety Trainers, M N Sreehari.

Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has the responsibility to create bus bays in the city and Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) on the ring roads. Bus bays help separate buses away from the traffic flow on the road and they need space demarcated on the side of the road.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Bangalore City Police, Praveen Sood, said that the city has only a negligible number of bus bays due to space constraints. “The possibility of having bus bays inside the city is less,” he adds.

Traffic police used a series of plastic cones on roads to demarcate spaces for buses and other vehicles.

But the system failed to make motorists follow lane discipline. Many of the plastic cones were damaged by vehicles,” he observed.

Sreehari feels that bus bays at bus stops are supposed to be located at least 75 metres away from junctions and intersections. “But in Bangalore, bus stops are usually located at traffic intersection points as the city has many one-ways and a single bus stop is used for buses plying on two intersecting oneways,” he added.

Sreehari also attributed the problem of buses stopping in the middle of the road to the habit of people waiting for buses on the road itself, instead of bus shelters. He said the allocated bus stop, if any, does not provide space for more than one bus to stop and the width of the road does not allow parallel parking of buses. Hence, buses stop at places other than the allocated space.

Projects Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA) is working on bus bay identification and location, as part of the implementation of the Comprehensive Traffic and Transportation Plan for the city.

BBMP, the transport department and the Bangalore Traffic Police are contemplating 600 bus bays across the city at an estimated cost of Rs 675 crore. Authorities are looking out for space availability, Sreehari said.

During the Agenda for Bangalore Infrastructure Development (ABIDe) meeting held on September 19, BBMP promised the traffic police that it will provide 35 bus bays in three months at an estimated cost of Rs 201.25 crore and another 35 in the next three months.