Bus shelters who has to be blamed, BMTC or BBMP?

It seems Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) have a mission...'It's either more or less, but never adequate.'

So, when people who commute daily by BMTC buses complain of the hazards and hassles involved in boarding a bus, both the authorities seem to be aggravating the commuter's problem.

An overenthusiastic BBMP and BMTC have gone ahead with random construction of bus shelters, leaving the commuters more confused at some places and have completely ignored certain places. Take this classic example of lack of planning by these authorities. The landmark Indian Express bus stop has three shelters with a scanty population using it for travelling towards RT Nagar or Shivaji Nagar.

But just a stone's throw away is another Indian Express bus stop with no bus shelter (one shelter is provided, but no bus stops at that place). It is the place where a huge population takes buses towards Majestic, JP Nagar, Koramangala, Chandra Layout, etc. Thousands of commuters have to wait along the bus stops or most of the times on the road itself. This gets worse when it rains.

There is absolutely no planning or policy when it comes to the number of bus shelters to be built at a particular point as some important bus stops like Nrupathunga Road, Corporation, Richmond Road have more than two bus stops in a row, resulting in the bus drivers stopping according to their whims and fancies. In fact, there are no shelters at all in most of the bus stops in the newly added wards. There cannot be a worse hardship, a commuter can face while waiting  for a bus for a long time.

Speaking to City Express, Murthy, working in a private firm said, "It's very confusing for the people who wait for the bus where there are more bus shelters. We do not know where the bus stops. In such cases, we might also miss the bus and not reach the office in time". While S R Shanmukhaswamy, a senior citizen says, "When we are waiting for the bus in a bus shelter, the bus might stop ahead in the next shelter. Also, if the same route bus numbers are plying at a particular time, the buses won't even stop, unless there are commuters  alighting in that destination. There is no proper display of route numbers on the bus shelters."

"I travel in a two wheeler everyday. When buses stop in the middle of the road, it causes lot of inconvenience and commuters too rush to get into the bus which often leads to accidents," says Pranali Aiyappa,  student of St Joseph's College.

While Nikhilesh Saggere, Tech Lead at Honeywell, says, "Travelling by car daily makes it very tiring as the bus stops that are located immediately after the traffic signal causes traffic jams regularly during peak hours." Meanwhile, BMTC claims that they are in continuous consultation with the BBMP to provide bus shelters for the benefit of the commuters. The BMTC identifies the spots for the new shelters to be built while the BBMP takes up the construction work. But, till date, the BBMP has not been able to provide shelters in a planned manner. In this regard, is the BMTC making any effort to urge the BBMP in hastening the process of building the shelters?

A N Purushotham, Councillor, Bommanahalli ward and Chairperson of Town Planning Committee said, "This year, we have approved construction of 170 bus shelters in Bangalore. Since it takes a minimum of  `25,000 to 30,000 to build a bus shelter, these will be built after the budget in August".

When asked why there are more than one bus shelters in a bus stop, he claimed, "Earlier the construction of bus shelters was carried out by private contractors and later on, this responsibility was shifted to BBMP. Hence, there is a lot of disarray in the construction of more than one shelter at a particular stop".

When City Express spoke to BMTC Managing Director K R Srinivas he said, "Presently, there are 2,000 bus shelters and we are still in need of 1,500-2,000 bus shelters. We only identify the spot to build the shelters, but BBMP is solely responsible for its construction. And, having more than one bus shelter at a bus stop is definitely confusing to the commuters as the bus might stop anywhere," he concludes without giving a solution.