Metro or BRTS on outer ring road stretch? Panellists debate

With plans for the Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) and Namma Metro on the Outer Ring Road hanging fire, citizens’ groups on Monday came together to see how at least one of these public transport projects is implemented on the ORR at the earliest.

The ebent was hosted by Bangalore Political Action Committee (BPAC) and WRI India.

Paulo Sergio Custodio, public transport expert, who was part of the discussion, preferred BRTS on the 30-km ORR between Central Silk Board and Hebbal via KR Puram to the proposed Namma Metro. He said: “Taking into consideration the capital cost and execution time, BRTS is a preferred solution. The government can recover the money invested in this project in less than 10 years,” he said.

When panellists sought to know why a Metro was not preferred on ORR, he said: “The bus rapid transport project is able to take the existing passenger load of 12,000 per hour on each direction on the ORR to 30,000 per hour. BRTS can be implemented in two years while the Metro would need a minimum of five years. Besides, the project just requires 20% of the cost of the Metro project,” he said.

R K Misra, founder director, Centre for Smart Cities said if BMRCL cannot guarantee the execution of Namma Metro on the ORR in the next three years, BRTS is an easier solution. More than 10 lakh people work on the stretch, adding 60,000 crore tax in the government exchequer.

Ekroop Caur, MD of BMTC said BRTS is a suitable option as the left lane of the road is occupied by illegal parking.