Hop on, hop off, says ABIDe

Hop on, hop off, says ABIDe
They are proposing a 10-rupee ticket to hop on and hop off from any bus in Central Business District
ADITI SONI


Buy a ten rupee ticket to hop on to and hop off from any bus in the Central Business District (CBD). This is the new mantra the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) will be chanting if Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa gives the green signal to the recommendations of the Agenda for Bangalore Infrastructure and Development (ABIDe) task force.
THE HOHO FACTOR
In its Plan Bengaluru 2020 on ‘Road traffic, management and transportation’ to be released shortly, Abide has suggested the introduction of clockwise and anti-clockwise loop service (Hop On Hop Of —HOHO) around the CBD. All that a person had to do in HOHO is to buy a ticket for Rs 10 and travel by any bus, a la the existing daily bus pass system. The frequency of buses will be high; there will be a bus coming along the route every six minutes.
This apart, ABIDe has also
suggested increasing the BMTC’s fleet from the current 5,700 buses to 11,000 buses, preferably smaller buses that could negotiate narrow lanes in neighbourhoods.
BETTERING THE CITY
Meanwhile, ABIDe chairperson Rajeev Chandrasekhar has requested Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa to allocate Rs 5,000 crore to handle transportationrelated issues in the city. This budget would be exclusive of the expenditure sanctioned under BDA ( Rs 2,528 crore) and BBMP (Rs 3,500 crore). Apart from this, for better quality of Bangalore roads, they have asked for multi-year annuity contracts to reputed companies through global tenders to be initiated this year.
BUDGET ALLOCATION
Junction free Outer Ring Road Rs 459 crore (BDA)
Utility shifting for 12 high traffic corridors Rs 600 crore (BBMP)
Satellite Town Ring Road Rs 400 crore to BMRDA
Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation Rs 500 crore
Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport Authority Rs 10 crore
Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited Rs 700 crore