In an attempt to decongest the city’s traffic, chief minister Siddaramaiah on Monday announced that the state government submitted a proposal to the central government to procure 2,500 buses for Bangalore City and 4,164 buses for other zones across the state, under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.
Speaking to mediapersons after launching Big Trunk services in the city, Siddaramaiah said Bangalore needs more buses since the population has been seeing a steady growth.
“Bangalore City has more bus routes than any other city in the country, but the number of buses is not on par with the demand,’’ the chief minister said. “We need Rs2819 crore for purchasing buses and provide infrastructure at various places in the state. It would be of great help if the central government allocates half of the amount sought by the state government,’’ he added.
On Monday, the chief minister flagged off 62 Big Trunk buses for operation on Hosur Road from Kempe Gowda Bus Station and other places in the city.
In the first phase, Big Trunk services will operate between Kempe Gowda Bus Station to Electronic City, Chandapura and Attibele.
“To simplify identification, such buses will be marked with their designated routes followed by the first alphabet of the destination.
So a Big Trunk from KBS to Electronic City will be marked as 3E, KBS to Chandapura 3C and KBS to Attibele 3A. Further, passengers may proceed to their respective villages using another batch of 40 feeder buses that will run every 10 to 20 minutes,” said Anjum Parwez, BMTC managing director.
