Barricades gone, chaos reigns on Old Madras Rd

BENGALURU: The traffic congestion on Old Madras Road, bang in front of the Baiyappanahalli Metro station, has now aggravated thanks to the removal of steel railings by the BBMP on the directions of the traffic police.Thanks to the move, auto drivers and non-feeder buses for Metro are now having a field day creating a huge traffic jam in front of the station.  

Top officials from Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL)  and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) visited the spot on Saturday to assess the impact of the move and the BMTC has now insisted that the railings be replaced atop the median from where they were removed.A foot-high median divider with railings were installed by the BBMP eight months ago to segregate the bus lane from the Old Madras Road.

Only Metro feeder buses were permitted to stop there. Commuters could walk out of the station and board the feeder service buses, or board a regular BMTC bus from the Srinivasapuram Gate bus stand, located just 100 metres away.A week ago, BBMP officials removed the railing from the median, informed a BMTC staffer manning the operations here. "They said it was being done on clear instructions from traffic police who felt a separate bus bay was creating traffic problems on the road," he said.

It was complete chaos when The New Indian Express visited the spot on Sunday. Many autos had quietly moved over from a separate stand earmarked to the right of the Metro station to the front of the bus bay. BMTC and private buses started parking on the main road calling out to customers to board the buses.
Passengers happily darted across rather than walk up to the bus stop nearby.

BMTC Managing Director V Ponnuraj told TNIE,  "There was no need to remove the railing. We have asked for it to be installed at the earliest. Another round of discussions will take place early this week."
A proposal was mooted to shift the bus stand behind the Metro station but we turned it down. "The whole purpose of creating an easy access to public transport would get defeated," he said, adding that the feeder bus service was doing very well from Baiyappanahalli, and the move to remove the bus demarcation would prove counter productive.

Public were spotted standing both on the median and in front of the Metro station waiting for buses. A BMTC staffer said non-feeder buses were not allowed to stop in front of the station but they have begun doing it the last one week. "Look at the autos queuing on the busy Old Madras Road after the railing was removed," he said. Bus passenger Ashok Kumar, who works in a software concern, says "Having a clearly divided bus bay really helps and buses would stop here. Now see how public have gone to the main road after the barricade went away."

Deiva Ganesan, a regular commuter to Tin Factory after alighting from the Metro said, "Volvo feeder buses are often parked in the bus lane and wait till many passengers board. If a third arrives, then it blocks the entrance to the parking area, located to the immediate right of the station. That also created another problem with the cars not able to enter the parking till the bus leaves."