Bengaluru: Come April, travelling to work or otherwise won't be the same for over three lakh people. The 18-km purple line from Mysore Road (Nayandahalli) to Byappanahalli will soon become operational. This means that residents of R.R. Nagar, Vijayanagar, Magadi Road, Rajajinagar, Majestic and the surrounding areas, Gandhinagar, Wilson Garden, Vasanth Nagar, Indiranagar and Domlur can now avail of the metro. This will be the longest reach for the Namma Metro which now adds a new dimension to mass transportation.
For Rajni Kumari, travelling from Mysore Road to MG Road to work every day will no longer be a struggle due to the metro connectivity. She said, “We are eagerly waiting for the entire stretch to open. In fact, it won’t be wrong to say that we have lived this dream together with the BMRCL. We had to bear the brunt of the dust and the daily traffic jams before we finally got our metro.”
In a few days, Bengaloreans will be able to travel in just 33 minutes, from Byappanahalli to Mysore Road. It is expected that the ridership in the metro system, which is about 45,000 per day will increase several fold.
In order to boost the ridership, the BMRCL has tried to provide parking facilities wherever possible, despite the space crunch. People can park their vehicles at Mysore Road, Majestic Interchange station, Trinity Circle and Byappanahalli. Besides, the BMTC will also be providing feeder buses at every station.
Apart from working people and college students, many travelling out of city by train will find it very convenient. The stretch has altogether 17 stations that pass through many important junctions of the city where a lot of educational institutions and tech companies are housed.
A BMRCL official said, “The date of inauguration has not been confirmed as the Commissioner of Railway Safety has not fixed his date of arrival. But he is expected here in a matter of days. Once he clears the inspection, we are ready to open for commercial operations. It should definitely happen sometime in April.”
However, deadlines have been moving from month to month. Initially it was scheduled to be opened in January, then February, March and now April. The entire Phase 1 is expected to be fully functional by December 2016.
The cost of Phase 1 has escalated by Rs 2,000 crore. The project today stands at Rs 13,805 crore. Until now the metro has opened only in small stretches. There are only five such stretches opened to the public, namely, Reach 1 (MG Road to Byappanahalli, 6.7 km), Reach 3 (Sampige Road to Yeshwanthpur, 5.1 km), Reach 3a (Yeshwanthpur to Peenya Industry, 4.8 km), Reach 3b (Peenya Industry to Nagasandra, 2.5 km) and Reach 2(Magadi Road to Mysore Road, 6.4 km).
Four major lines are yet to be opened to the public, namely, Reach 4 (National College to Rashtreeya Vidyalaya Road), Reach 4a (Rashtreeya Vidyalaya Road to Puttenahalli), UG 1 (North-South underground line) and UG2 (East-West underground line).
East-West Corridor
No of stations: 17
Byappanahlli, Swami Vivekananda Road, Indiranagar, Halasuru, Trinity, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Cubbon Park, Vidhana Soudha, Sir. M.Visveshwaraya, Kempegowda, City Railway Station, Magadi Road, Hosahalli, Vijayanagar, Attiguppe, Deepanjali Nagar and Mysore Rd
BMTC wants land at Byappanahalli, no reply from BMRCL
For a long time people from Whitefield have been demanding BMTC to connect Byappanahalli to ITPL. Now, BMTC has promised the commuters that the link route will be introduced once the numbers on the route grow, but also want a large parcel of land at Byappanahalli as it will be the starting point for the buses. In fact, the BMTC Managing Director Ekroop Caur has requested the BMRCL for the land, but has received no response.
Ms Radhika S., an employee of a prominent IT company at ITPL, said, “I take the Metro from Ulsoor to Byappanahalli and then use whatever buses are available. But it has not been easy for me to wait for buses at Byappanahalli as the frequency is less.
We definitely need more buses from here.” Voicing a similar opinion, Mr Suresh Kumar, another employee at ITPL who travels in BMTC buses regularly, said, “Considering the soaring temperature it has become even more difficult to wait for buses at Byappanahalli and to travel to ITPL. There are lakhs of people traveling every day to ITPL and the agency should focus on this line. Besides, the buses need to be monitored as they hardly stop at bus stops.” Ms Caur said, “We need some space for parking and to add more services, but nothing has moved so far. We will definitely be upgrading our services, but it can be done seamlessly if we get some land at Byappanahalli.”
