No bus shelters, people wait in rain and shine

Bangalore Development Transport

Kumbalgodu has six bus stops, but only one of them has a shelter.

The Kumbalgodu bus stop does not have a shelter for passengers to wait for the bus.

Vijay Kumar, a student of Don Bosco Institute of Technology who was waiting for the bus at the Kumbalgodu bus stop complained, “There is no proper place to sit while waiting for the bus. Everyone is tired by the evening because of college or work, and it is so hard to stand here waiting for the bus.”

He is not alone. Thejus, another person who was waiting for the bus at the Kumbalgodu bus stop said “I have to stand here the whole time till the bus comes. Many elders  and children also suffer because there is no place to sit down. During the rain, the situation worsens, and some buses stop in the middle of the road so people must stand in the middle to ensure that they will get a seat and it is dangerous.”

Adhul Krishna, who came for a business visit said, “It is tiring to stand with bags and luggage on the roadside with this hot temperature.”

The Kumbalgodu panchayat has six bus stops, but only one has a shelter. Y V Balasubramanian, Kumbalgodu Panchayat Secretary said, “This does not come under the jurisdiction of the panchayat. The National Highway Authority of India is responsible for building the bus shelters.”

However, according to the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act 1993, passenger shelters within the panchayat jurisdiction are the responsibility of the panchayats.

Commuters also complain about how buses stop in the middle of the road. Manjunath, who drives a maxi cab said “Most buses don’t come on the service road so we must stand between the service road and the highway to get on the bus. And if there was a proper bus shelter, the buses would have stopped there.”

Issac Dsouza, an urban planner said, “The irony in Bangalore is not so much the shelters, but the apathy in the way the shelters are planned on the main roads. We need to have parking bays for buses curved in, so that the main traffic flows freely, always.”

Tagged