‘NimBuses’ to run on BMTC priority lane from November 1

BENGALURU: The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has started branding its services that will operate on the priority lane on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) between Central Silk Board and Baiyappanahalli as ‘NimBus’ or ‘Nimma Bus’ with a tagline ‘Commute Better’. The service will start from November 1.

Despite stiff opposition from various agencies to the priority lane, and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike a long way to go to ensure a smooth trial of the new service, a BMTC official said that the work on the dedicated bus lane is completed. The official said that 830 services will ply on the ORR with NimBus stickers and majority of them are on route no. 500.

The BMTC will operate blue AC buses and green ordinary buses along the route, replacing the existing multi-colour buses.

“The 20-km priority lane will cut down commute time by half-an-hour. It will help those travelling to different places through ORR. To avoid breakdowns, BMTC will run ordinary buses that are less than two years old and those that have clocked less than two lakh kilometres. AC buses on the route will be replaced with electric buses in a phased manner,” a senior BMTC official told Deccan Chronicle.

The Corporation claimed that the priority lane will be the solution to the city’s traffic woes because every day, up to 3.5 lakh people commute in city buses on the stretch.  

The BMTC hopes to add another 1.5 lakh passengers once the priority lane becomes operational.