The ways of BMTC never fails to amaze me. They come up with very innovative idea, but fail miserably when it comes to implementation. On recomendations the Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure Development (ABIDe), the BMTC introduced a couple of new branded services. These services are called Kendra Sarige and Big10.
The clockwise service is called "Blue Line":
Kendra Sarige (KS) is a ring-route that runs along the periphery of the city's central business district. Although most of the city's workforce are now employed by the IT companies in Electronic City or at ITPL, this particular area - which constitute the CBD - is strategically and commercially important. The motive behind the idea was to reduce vehicular population, and thereby reduce pollution. KS is operated using Volvo buses. These buses charge a flat fare of Rs. 10 and one can travel between any two points.
The major points covered by the KS service are: Richmond Circle, Brigade Road, Mayo Hall, Trinity Circle, Residency Road, Cubbon Road, Chinnaswamy Stadium and Anil Kumble Circle (the locations are not in order). One service runs in clock-wise direction, while another goes in the anti-clockwise direction. There are three buses each in each direction, and run at an approximate frequency of 20 minutes. The entire run of 9 kilometres consume close to 30 minutes.
The clockwise service is called "Blue Line":
These services begin from Hudson Circle, and go via Kasturba Road, Musuem, Cubbon Road, Trinity Circle, Hosmat Hospital and Richmond Circle.
The anticlockwise service is called "Orange Line":
These services originate from Richmond Circle, and go via Mayo Hall, Ulsoor Road, Commercial Street, Chinnaswamy Stadium and Mallya Hospital.
The first bus in both cases leave at 0745, and the last bus at 2150. As said early, the fare charged is Rs. 10. However, since these buses are fed with one stop as their last stop, and you journey happens to be traveling through this stop, then you might have to pay twice the fare.
Big10 are dedicated shuttle services run along ten major roads identified for this purpose. These services terminate at a point where it could connect to Kendra Sarige. The roads identified for Big10 are: HAL Airport Road, Sarjapur Road, Hosur Road, Bannerghatta Road, Kanakapura Road, Mysore Road, Magadi Road, Tumkur Road, Bellary Road and Old Madras Road.
As of today, these services have begun operating on HAL Airport Road (Route: Police Housing Corporation to Kadugodi), Hosur Road (St Patricks Church to Electronic City) and Bannerghatta Road (St Patricks Church to Bannerghatta/Jigani). Services are run with a frequency of 10-15 minutes, and supervisors are appointed at their terminuses. These buses charge Rs 5, 10 or 15 according to the distance traveled.
Daily Passes, and Monthly Passes worth Rs 600 or above are vaild on these buses. Low awareness are working against the success of these beautiful services.
Big10 services are expected to commence very soon on Mysore Road.
Some flaws in the Service: The end points in most cases are not determined properly. The KS services skip most important and traffic dense points in the city. The Big10 services do not properly integrate to KS services, and often results in passengers being left in the middle of nowhere. However, these are, hopefully, only the initial glitches. The appropriate departments should modify these routes (especially KS) to include major transit points too.
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Sunup