Metro Bus Project will soon be a reality

By Anil Sastry

BANGALORE, SEPT. 12. The much-awaited Metro Bus service on dedicated lanes in the City will soon be a reality. On its commissioning, the project will be the first of its kind in the country.

The Swedish Government has agreed to finance the pilot Metro Bus Project on Jayanagar-Shivajinagar route on a proposal by the State Government. The former will give an interest-free loan of $ 7 million, which has to be repaid in 10 years. The BMTC has planned to invite global tenders for buses of the required specification.

The Swedish Government has asked the Union Finance Ministry to waive customs duty for importing buses and equipment for the project. Otherwise, the project cost would go up, it stated in a letter.

The Minister for Transport, Mr. C.R.Sageer Ahmed, confirmed the receipt of the letter forwarded by the Union Government. He expressed confidence that the buses would be on roads by January 2002.

Mr. Ahmed told The Hindu that it would be a dream come true for the Government, which had been pursuing the project for the past two years. The Government had given top priority for easy commuting in Bangalore through an efficient public transport system. This would reduce the number of private vehicles, the minister noted.

There are more than 16 lakh vehicles, including 12 lakh two wheelers, two lakh four wheelers and 75,000 autorickshaws, in the City. Though the BMTC has been running more than 2,250 buses on 2,000 schedules with 30,000 trips, they have proved to be insufficient. This has made the public depend more on private modes of transport.

A feasibility study was conducted by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) with the BMTC in 1999. Twenty trunk routes were identified for the project. Eight terminals -- Ganganagar, Shivajinagar, Indiranagar, Koramangala, Jayanagar, Mysore Road, Shivanagar (West of Chord Road) and Yeshwanthpur -- have been identified for the purpose. High- capacity buses will run between these terminals on 20 routes every three minutes.

The eight terminals will be connected to surrounding areas by buses running on feeder routes. While three-axle single articulated metro buses will run on trunk routes, two-axle standard buses will run on feeder routes. The metro bus will have normal floor height and requires specially-designed platforms for easy alighting and boarding. The standard buses will have low floors.

The trunk route will be separated from other roads by kerb stones. In busy junctions, the traffic signal will be designed to give an early start to metro buses. The bus bays (platforms) will be constructed either in the middle of the trunk route or at the sides, depending on the location.

Pilot project

The trunk route for Jayanagar-Shivajinagar corridor will pass through Jayanagar 4th Main, K.R.Road, Prof. Shivashankar Circle, City Market, Hudson Circle, K.G.Road, District Office Road, K.R.Circle and the Vidhana Soudha. Thus it will be helpful a large number of commuters. The running time will be halved to 20 minutes.

The fare structure is yet to be finalised by the BMTC. However, the fares will by and large remain the same with some modifications, according to BMTC officials.

Gearing itself up for the introduction of metro bus system, the BMTC has undertaken a route rationalisation exercise. As per the plan, indigenously-built high-capacity buses will be run on other trunk routes. Regular buses will be operated on feeder lines. The exercise is expected to be completed by December 2001, and the project will be commissioned by January 2002.

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