Their day’s agony begins at Majestic

Their day’s agony begins at Majestic

Lakhs of bus passengers have to endure a half-hour crawl at the starting point at Majestic everyday, thanks to a woefully-bad road

Suchith Kidiyoor
Posted On Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 01:13:40 AM

Under normal conditions, it should take no more than five minutes for a vehicle to cover a 200-metre stretch, but BMTC buses coming out of the Majestic bus stand take almost half an hour in negotiating Gubbi Thotadappa Road (the Tank Bund road in front of the city railway station) to reach Khoday circle.

During the peak hours (9.30 am to 12.30 pm and 5 pm to 7 pm), around 640 buses exit every hour from the bus stand, and thanks to the pothole-ridden condition of the road, around seven lakh commuters have to endure this delay everyday. Adding to their misery is the smell of urine coming from the open areas around the bus stand.

The driver of a BMTC Volvo bus said the potholes on the road are a hazard to Volvo buses in particular, as their chassis is only nine inches above the ground. “If the bus is damaged, the officials blame us for rash driving,” he added.

“BBMP might get away with an excuse if it concerns a road in some remote area. But this road is in the heart of the city, and its present state amounts to sheer negligence,” said Praveen, who commutes daily to Indiranagar from Majestic.

Prasanth, an employee with a business solutions company, said, “We have a cab facility only at night and I have to rely on BMTC buses during the day. It takes at least half an hour for buses to exit from the corridors at Majestic bus stand. The road was repaired a while ago, but after the recent spell of rain, it is back to square one.”

Traffic blamed

When contacted in this regard, A M Nayak, BBMP chief engineer (West) said,” Heavy traffic and incessant rain a few days ago have damaged the road. We will start repair work within a month.”

BMTC’s chief traffic manager (operations) Vishwanath said, “We have written several letters to BBMP, but there has been no response. Instead of blaming heavy traffic, they should go for scientifically-built roads which last longer. We pay tax on every bus and it is their duty to provide good facilities for the smooth operation of buses.”

Commenting on the nuisance caused by members of the public near the bus stand, he said, “The toilet facilities at the bus stand are adequate.” He added that when the new inter-modal transit centre comes up at Majestic, better facilities will be provided for passengers.