Several citizens and resident welfare groups are participating in a ‘bus yatra’ today aptly called ‘Nimbus Express’ to promote the new Priority Bus Lane system of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC). The project began on November 15, where the left lanes are marked out only for buses and ambulances, and anyone else encroaching this lane will be penalised.
The idea is to increase the average speed from 10-20 kilometres per hour, so that the six lakh population that works in around this part of Outer Ring Road uses buses and abandons their vehicles that are congesting this important thoroughfare, and causing both air and noise pollution.
If the bus lane is successful, one can expect the traffic density on ORR to be considerably reduced. Therefore, the residents are asking every worker to keep their vehicles behind and hop on the bus from either Silk Board or Marathahalli bus stop today. Already, there are several citizens who have reported that their travel time was halved by this new initiative. Whitefield Rising, the residents group says, “Regular bus commuters say the #BusPriorityLane has helped. Commute time has reduced. It is the VIP corridor for the common man.” Ofcourse, there are some misgivings about this move too. Says Sujoy Batabyal: “First build the infrastructure for bus passengers. Foot over bridge should be there every 100/200 meters for crossing the road. Trucks and lorries should not run on the Outer Ring Road, only then can it be more successful.”
Nonetheless, what is gratifying is that the residents are popularising this move wholeheartedly by coming on to the roads and holding placards to educate the vehicle users to stop encroaching the bus lanes for smoother movement of BMTC buses. “Today, from Eco Space in Bellandur to Agara in HSR Layout, it took me just 10 minutes,” says HSR Layout resident Lalithamba BV. “If 1000 people use the buses, it’s 1000 less cars on the road. Imagine how much space 1000 cars can take compared to 20 buses?” A few days before, citizens took to the streets holding placards and asking them to use buses instead. If the ridership goes up, the buses will increase proportionately. If they fail, the service could even be withdrawn. Srinivas Alavilli, co-founder, Citizens for Bangalore called all CEOs to opt for buses by saying, “India will be a developed nation when CEOs take the bus.”
To support this citizen initiative, police commissioner Bhaskar Rao, Sandalwood actor, BBMP Commissioner BH Anil Kumar, BBMP Additional Commissioner D Randeep, Joint Commissioner (Traffic) Ravikanthe Gowda, BMTC Director (Security & Vigilance) Anupam Agarwal, BMTC chief C Shikha, and activist Chetan also travelled with the public today. This BMTC initiative is supported by BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike), BTP (Bengaluru Traffic Police) and DULT (Directorate of Urban Land Transport).
If Metro, Metrolite, suburban rail, and priority bus lanes work the way they are envisaged, much of the pollution, congestion and traffic chaos can come down. That should be the government’s first priority.