Flyover parks a pile-up at Shantinagar bus stand

Flyover parks a pile-up at Shantinagar bus stand

BMTC worried as a station with 1,200 trips a day bears the brunt of the convergence of traffic

Shwetha S. Bangalore



It was a move meant to ease the flow of traffic, but it has caused just the opposite effect at the Shantinagar bus stand.
With traffic police having done away with the intersection of traffic on the Richmond Circle flyover, a huge traffic pile-up occurred on Double Road during the peak hours of Monday morning. The snarl ended up clogging the Shantinagar bus station.
The flyover is at the intersection of Mission Road, Residency Road, Richmond Road and Double Road,
Sampangi Rame Gowda, manager, operations, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) said, "Since Saturday, when the traffic flow was changed to disallow the merging of traffic on the flyover, Double Road has witnessed a heavier flow. There are 1,200 trips halting at the Shantinagar bus station each day. Over the last two days, we have deployed a special traffic controller here to ensure that the buses keep moving smoothly, without halting for too long and disrupting the flow."
"This road was not as busy earlier. For the first time now, we see slow-moving traffic here right through the day. We are apprehensive that the problems will only increase. Once the Majestic or Kempe Gowda bus station is shifted to Shantinagar, we will experience a severe space constraint; manoeuvring buses here will become a problem. We have informed the ACP traffic, but they are keen to observe traffic flow for another two days before considering changing the pattern of traffic flow here."