These Metro stations derail pedestrian lives

While the Bengaluru Metro has been a boon to commuters, the lack of integration of stations like Baiyappanahalli and Nagasandra with the adjoining main roads has led to unnecessary fatalities. With one more death in September, the call for better connectivity has grown ever louder. The Metro was meant to decongest our cities but why is getting to the stations such a hurdle, asks Ranjani Madhavan.

The Metro Rail may be finally meeting the needs of a large number of the city’s commuters travelling over long distances  even if it still has a long way to go before it can provide them access to all parts of the city.   

But many are beginning to question the locations of its stations from the perspective of commuter convenience as people exiting them are finding themselves on crowded roads with the traffic making it hard for them to get across to the other side. Only in April this year a young college student exiting the Nagasandra Metro Station was killed by a speeding vehicle and last month, a seven- year- old boy was hit by a vehicle on the Old Madras Road while  returning from the Baiyappanahalli Metro Station.

While the terminal at Baiyappanahalli is a huge comfort for commuters living nearby, locals find that its one and only entrance is a disadvantage, especially as they are required to cross the busy Old Madras Road( OMR) navigating heavy traffic, to reach it.

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“Office- goers, the elderly and families carrying luggage have to wait endlessly to cross the Old Madras Road. Every day is a fight to live,” says Ms Geetha, a resident of Varthur, adding, “ I worry for my 13- year- old son, who uses the Metro to go to school every day. I have never seen a Metro, which has so much confusion outside.  Two- wheelers are driving against the one way- traffic to drop passengers at  the Metro station near the Srinivaspura bus stop and while I was taking a video, one motorist heading towards the Metro parking almost got hit by a BMTC bus in the absence of a bus bay here.  It is really strange that the next stop, the Swami Viveknanda station,  has safe entry, parking and a bus bay.”

Mr Subir Shah, who has lived in the area for 15 years, also faults the design of the station. “ There is only one entrance to the Baiyappanahalli Metro Station unlike the Indiranagar and  Ulsoor stations, which have entry on either sides. How can there be  space for parking but no second entrance?” he asks.

In his view , there is no excuse  not to have a subway or some form of access from the opposite side of the road to the Metro station as it is close to a six- lane crowded junction with no pedestrian signal. “A 20 ft long subway should have been built given that Baiyappanahalli station is the second busiest after Majestic,” he maintains.

With AC buses halting for almost 15 minutes for passengers in the service lane near the station and blocking the way of other buses  on the main road, the locals believe a designated bus bay at the spot is essential. This could greatly help matters as the huge number of vehicles from Varthur, GM Palaya, KR Puram, Pai Layout, Beginahalli, GM Palya, SG Palya, Nagvaraplaya,  Bhuveneshwarnagar, Maleshpalya, Kaggadaspura and Hoskote currently have no access to the opposite side of the Baiyappanahalli Metro station, they contend.

Meanwhile, motorists and bikers complain that the road median with its 5 ft tall  trees here stops them from having a clear view and forces them to  halt abruptly as pedestrians suddenly pop from nowhere.

Debate on transport system on October 7
Members of the Citizens for Bengaluru, Praaja RAAG, Bus Prayaneekara Vedike and Citizens' Action Forum are organising a public discourse on Namma Metro and Integration of Public Transport Systems in Bengaluru on October 7. In the light of the recent Cantonment controversy, citizens believe there is a need for public consultation.

“Ashish Varma, Pawan Mulukutla, George Kuruvilla, Ashwin Mahesh, Naresh Narasimhan, V. Ravichandar and other urban experts will speak. Officials from BMRCL, BMTC, Railways and other government departments, politicians and elected representatives too have been invited," said Tara Krishnaswamy of Citizens for Bengaluru.

“To raise concerns of citizens fighting with authorities at various levels and to contemplate on legal issues, we are conducting this discourse. Rs 40,000-50,000 crore of our money being spent on one Metro project demands public consultation," said Mukunda of the Citizen Action Forum.

“When BMRCL took a unilateral decision on shifting Cantonment Metro station, the onus is on them to convince us about it. The points they raised do not hold water. We got 2,468 signatures supporting the original alignment as opposed to the 17 they stated for the alternate station," Raj Kumar, a resident of Vasanthnagar said.

BMRCL calls for tenders to build skywalk, subway
While locals wrote to the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) about the poor accessibility to the Baiyappanahalli Metro station in May this year and also informed their  elected representatives and the traffic police about the problem,  commuters are  at similar risk  at the Peenya, Dasarahalli, Peenya Industry and Jalahalli  Metro stations on the Green Line.

Two months ago, when one commuter, Rahul, was briskly walking to reach the Nagasandra Metro on a Monday morning, he almost slipped. And this wasn’t the first that he had almost fallen on the slushy, muck filled road below the station. A video he shot of the stretch shows BMTC buses halting 400 meters from their designated stops for a lack of bus bays, people screaming as a truck gets  stuck in a ditch and passengers walking on potholes instead of a pavement.

Matters came to a head in  April when the young college student exiting the Nagasandra Metro Station was killed by a speeding vehicle. The boy’s father recalled at the time that the BMRCL had promised a subway 10 months before his son died, but had done nothing about it.

But now finally, the BMRCL has called for tenders to build a subway at Nagasandra and Dasarahalli. As for Baiyappanahalli, commuters here can expect some relief in a few months.

“The BBMP has already called for tenders for a skywalk here, extending from the road bridge attached to the Baiyappanahalli Metro Station and going over the Old Madras Road to the opposite end. People will be able to go directly from the concourse level to the other side,” explains Chief Public Relations Officer of the BMRCL, Vasanth Rao.

“The BRMCL has asked the contractor to revise the design of the skywalk and he will get back to us with the final design this week. There will be an escalator, lift and staircase on one side. It will take two to four months to build,” Mr Rao assures.