JOIN USSafety first, in late night city
A city that sleeps late is a city that stays safe. By this benchmark, Bengaluru’s quantum leap in its safety standard should have been obvious once the nightlife was extended to 1 am through the week. There is no visible proof yet of that happening.
The government did make much noise about allowing hotels, eateries, bars and clubs to stay open till 1 am beyond the weekends. But the ‘happening nightspots’ still get busy only on Fridays and Saturdays. The extension is yet to make a dramatic impact.
There is one big reason why this is so: Pathetic public transport service after dark. Besides the overcharging autorickshaws and surge-obsessed cabs, the city offers no dependable transport option. Personal cars and bikes: Not recommended since drunken driving is out of question.
Skeletal transport
Articulating the need for at least a skeletal public transport service till the late hours is Bengaluru Blue Print Action Group (BBPAG) member V Ravichandar. BMTC buses are grossly inadequate. Even the Metro shuts down after 10 pm and services are extended till 11 pm only on rare occasions.
The Action Group had played a key role in extending the deadline right through the week. Ravichandar explains the rationale: “Suppose you finish work at Outer Ring Road at 6 pm, and want to come for dinner to UB City. It will take at least three hours. Dinner is a leisure activity, it cannot be rushed.”
Not many are aware that the extension stays through the week. This could be one reason why business has not picked up. “The market will eventually align to the new arrangement. But we need to create an enabling environment.”
Evolving eateries
Years before the extension of the weekend deadlines, a restaurant chain in the City had kept its doors open till 2 am. The management had even got a stay when the city police tried forcible closure. Eventually, the hoteliers won and are now fully integrated with the new system.
Their marketing rationale is simple: Cater to the youngsters who head out for food after the pubs close. The huge crowds that throng the chain’s restaurants on Church Street, Koramangala and Indiranagar are telling proof of a market they cultivated over the years.
The weeklong extension is expected to slowly expand this market. Shifts could evolve and compensate for employees in other restaurants, who now complain of longer working hours. The law and order machinery, sensing that there is no perceptible spike in crime, is also expected to follow suit.
But the birth pangs of the new system could now be felt underneath those glitzy lights. Pub owners, long used to the Friday-Saturday schedule, now find customers gulping down that drink way beyond the 11.30 pm deadline on weekdays. “No visible rise in sales, but more electricity consumed,” is a common grouse.
Additional burden
The men in khaki making the rounds on Church Street know that there will be no trouble. But they would now have to be on duty at those hotspots right through the week. As a constable reasons, this extra work will be an additional burden on the understaffed police force.
Traffic management around these nightspots has been an issue, and it could only get worse. Residents living in close proximity to these spots have often complained of haphazard parking and chaos. But an informal system is now in place at a few spots where hotel security men multi-task as traffic wardens for the night. The arrangement is not perfect, but the police are not complaining.
Besides the young pub-goers and nightlife buffs, there is one big section of people who welcome the extension unconditionally: Hungry outstation commuters who land up at the city’s transport hubs of Majestic and Kalasipalyam late in the night.
Also in the list are passengers bound for and returning from late night flights at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA).
As an hotelier in Indiranagar points out, this section of commuters that include even children could really diversify the nightlife and eventually make it mainstream. Traffic and the law and order systems could then be tweaked accordingly.
The message is clear: More women and children at night would mean more law enforcement challenges for the police. But once the system is overhauled, management would become routine and simpler.