Bus priority lanes on Outer Ring Road disappear

Bengaluru: The plan to develop bus priority lanes on roads with heavy traffic in Bengaluru has fallen into disrepair. The bus lane which was practically implemented on the outer ring road has now disappeared.

In 2019, Bruhat Bengaluru MahanagaraPalike (BBMP), Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) , Directorate of Land Transport (DLT) and traffic police officials had jointly planned to construct bus priority lanes to provide rapid bus transport services in the city. A 17- km bus route was also constructed from Silk Board Junction to KR Puram. In the six-lane road, two lanes were reserved for BMTC buses. The bus route was constructed amid many complications and confusions. When the project was started, iron bollards were installed by BBMP to prevent other vehicles from entering the priority lane. The problem was created by a series of accidents where private vehicles hit the bollards. Later the iron bollard was removed and FRP (Fiber Reinforced Plastic) bollards were installed. BMTC had also done a lot of publicity about the bus route. It created a song and shared it on YouTube. The message depicted in the song is that if you travel by bus, you can reach the office on time. But, now that bus has no priority lane and all the bollards have been cleared. After the metro rail work started, this priority path also disappeared. Out of the six lanes, two lanes have been used for the work and barricades have been adopted. In the remaining four lanes, it has been cleared because if the bus is used for the priority lane, it will disturb the traffic of other vehicles.

If the bus priority route is maintained and the number of buses is increased, people would be interested in travelling by bus. Then the number of private vehicles would decrease. The opinion of civic organisations is that the number of private vehicles has increased now that there is no bus route.

Priority lane is the solution to traffic congestion

SrinivasAlavilli of JanagrahaOrganisation said, 'Bus priority route is the only solution to reduce the increasing traffic congestion in the city. 'If you are confident of reaching your destination on time if you travel by bus, people will travel by bus instead of private vehicles. This kind of confidence-building work needs to be done,' he said. 'More buses should operate on the bus route. Not only 12 roads, it is good that there should be a priority path wherever it is needed. The bus lane has been cleared for metro rail work on Outer Ring Road. Had it been retained, the traffic could have been reduced,' he opined. People think more about saving money. It should also be understood that you can travel by bus at a lower cost than a two-wheeler. He said that it should be ensured that the fare is not considered a burden.

'Let's try it for a week'

There is no doubt that the bus priority route will be used to reduce traffic congestion. IISC Professor AshishVerma suggested that the government should implement it practically for a week and check. We have convinced the government many times about this. The concerned should consider this matter seriously,' he said.