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They zipped to office on new east-west Metro stretch

Time seemed surplus
Last Updated 02 May 2016, 20:08 IST

Monday, the first working day since the underground stretch of the Metro opened, saw packed trains from Mysuru Road Station to Baiyappanahalli in the peak hours between 8 am and 11 am.

The passengers were predominantly a working population. One could see office-goers, government staff, college students, working youth, court staff and techies travelling in the peak hours. 

Vidhana Soudha was where plenty of people got down, while many others continued to MG Road and Baiyappanahalli en route to Whitefield.

From Mysuru Road station side, crowds picked up at Vijayanagar, a central point. People were seen buying tickets and literally running to catch the trains at around 9 am. Waiting for the trains, everybody talked only about the Metro. They said here at last was a system that could get them to office in time or may be even early, without the travails of the road. The joy was palpable. Three stations are very important on the East-West corridor and for that reason, the rush would be high everyday, like on Monday. The Vidhana Soudha station is central to the courts, Visvesvaraya building offices, the offices in the multi-storey building housing all bureaucrats and the offices of the Education department. So, most working people would alight at this station. Then, MG Road station is an important station, because it is an area with plenty of private offices and is the central business district. It is close to Lavelle Road, St Mark’s Road, Church Street, Halasuru and is a link to Frazer Town, Cooke Town and Shivajinagar. Baiyappanahalli is also a crucial station because it is close to Whitefield, the IT hub.

People who Deccan Herald spoke to said they were more than glad that Metro had come and that it was a relief they had been waiting for.

Abhijith Aakar, who resides at Nayandahalli and works at an IT company at Whitefield, said, “I travel 25-30 km daily to Whitefield and have to change buses at Majestic. I can now change at Baiyappanahalli and travel a shorter distance to office. The Metro has cut travel time by a cool 30 minutes.”

Take bus at Swami Vivekananda stn

The BMRCL has requested passengers travelling all the way to Baiyappanahalli station to catch a bus to Whitefield to actually get down one station before - Swami Vivekananda.

BMRCL chief spokesperson U A Vasanth Rao told Deccan Herald that techies and others catching the bus at Baiyappanahalli to Whitefield is causing congestion at the station.

“The buses at Baiyappanahalli station wait on the road and cause traffic jams. At Swami Vivekananda station, there is a dedicated bus stand and nearly 15 buses are stationed there and do not cause congestion. We request passengers getting down at Baiyappanahalli station to instead get down at Swami Vivekananda station for the bus to Whitefield. Moreover, the walk from the Baiyappanahalli station to the bus stand is very long, while at Swami Vivekananda, it is right at the foot of the staircases.”
 

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(Published 02 May 2016, 20:08 IST)

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