Bengaluru: Where are all the Volvos, ask commuters

Bengaluru: Commuters travelling from Marathahalli to Whitefield have been demanding a larger number of BMTC buses for a long time, but in vain. They claim that the majority of BMTC buses go towards ITPL or Varthur. In fact, the Volvo buses plying on this route are far too few and commuters have to wait for a minimum of 40 minutes to get a Volvo bus.

Balaji Chandrasekaran, a commuter, says, “There should be more Volvos in this route from Marathahalli to Kadugodi through Whitefield Main Road.” Abhijit Chaidhary, another commuter, says, “Towards evening I get only private buses. In fact, sometimes I end up waiting for more than half-an-hour for BMTC buses whereas ITPL buses are available every 5 minutes.”

Voicing a similar opinion, Ayaskanta Swain says, “There are a few Volvos but the frequency is very low. The population of this stretch has gone up tremendously in the last five years, but still BMTC has not added more services to meet the rising demand.” A BMTC official said, “From September 4 onwards there should be enough Chakra 8A services between Kundanahalli Signal and Hope Farm-ITPL via Kodi and Whitefield. The schedule is every 15 minutes during peak hours.”

Sonal Chatterjee points out, “90 per cent of the buses are bound for ITPL whereas 90 per cent of the crowd at the bus stops want to go to Whitefield. So we end up waiting for 20-30 minutes.” Pravir Bagrodia, who has been residing in Bengaluru for about 20 years, has given up all hopes of the BMTC now. He says, “I did a lot of work on this matter  since 2008. Then we intensified it through Whitefield Rising. They reintroduced V335PE and withdrew. We have exchanged many letters on the issue but now I have given up.”

He had pointed out, “Vajra 333EP exists only on paper. For several years, a few 335E Vajra services were directed only in the morning hours via Whitefield and Varthur Kodi because it helps to escape the Graphite India jam and the conductor can sell more tickets as returning passengers are few at ITPL-EPIP in the first half of the trip.”