Although Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) officials remained clueless, the bus drivers and conductors planned their trips cleverly on match days.
The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) plies 5,400 buses every day to far-off corners of the city to provide the last-mile connectivity to its 4.3 million commuters.
Also, in order to provide easy transportation to cricket-lovers on days when Twenty20 matches are held in Bangalore, the BMTC directed the ‘Big 10’ buses, which ply from end corridors of the city to Mayo Hall or Brigade Road, to start their services from BRV Grounds.
Instead, what has been happening is that most buses that ply from Shivajinagar to different areas in the city cut short their trips and rush back to pick up people returning after the match. “Several times this season, buses drop commuters to Tin Factory and return to Shivajinagar during the evening, instead of going to the Babusab Palya,” said Madhuri Chennaswamy.
Madhuri, a resident of Babusab Palya, uses crutches and the changing of buses adds to her inconvenience.
Sixty-year-old Suvarnamma Rao, who escaped being run over by a bus on April 16 after a match at Chinnaswamy Stadium, said, “I had to take a bus to Bhadrappa Layout, but the one meant to go that route cut its trip short up to Nagahsettyhalli bus stop and returned immediately as the match was due to end. I rushed after many buses from there and escaped an accident narrowly.”
It’s the same story in other areas in Rajajinagar and Banashankari. Interestingly, BMTC chief traffic manager (operations), K Vishwanath was clueless about the issue.
“We had directed only the ‘Big 10’ buses to ply from BRV Grounds to ferry people from the stadium. But it certainly did not mean that other buses could cut short their trips and break the last-mile connectivity,” said Vishwanath.
He also spoke to a few depot managers and asked them to report the trip sheets for the next match to be held in Bangalore.
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