BUS CAN’T PASS, SALA!

BUS CAN’T PASS, SALA!
BANGALORE MIRROR BUREAU


Heard of a traffic jam? Well, something of this kind happened at the Kempe Gowda bus station in Majestic on Wednesday morning when nearly 800 buses came to a grinding halt. Reason: These buses could not move out of the station as there was no way out! With members of the Left parties taking out a protest from Shantala Junction to Freedom Park through the Railway Station Road and Seshadri Road, the massive traffic jam in Majestic area
froze the movement of buses.
A Bangalore Metropolitan Transportation Corporation (BMTC) official said, “Heavy traffic kept coming in from Khoday Circle to Maharani’s College underpass junction. Buses could not come out of the Majestic bus stand. Adding to the confusion, a private vehicle broke down on Railway Station road, blocking other vehicles. Later, police rushed to the spot and moved the vehicle off the road, giving a
breather to the following vehicles.” BMTC operates more than 5,500 buses and a vast chunk of these ply on Seshadri Road to different destinations.
Speaking to Bangalore Mirror, A S Vishwanath, Chief Traffic Manager (Operations) admitted the services of BMTC were disrupted for some time. He added, “We are not sure about the cancellation of services as depots give reports at the end of the day.”
As the BMTC bus station records peak hour entry traffic of 598 buses per hour, the financial loss caused by the traffic jam runs into thousands of rupees as the bus schedules went haywire. A BMTC official said, “As it is we lose about Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh per day because of traffic jams across the city. A jam near the nerve centre (Majestic) takes a heavy toll.” Thousands of BMTC passengers, especially those heading towards the eastern and southern parts of the city, were stranded in the buses. The traffic jam also affected the movement of KSRTC and APSRTC buses.