So near, so far: the agony of accessing Sir M Visvesvaraya railway terminal

A month after the Sir M Visvesvaraya terminal at Baiyappanahalli (SMVB) was opened for commercial operations, the number of trains have now crossed 10. The number of passengers arriving and leaving the station is growing significantly.

While there has been a lot of attention paid to the sprucing up the terminal, the issue of last mile connectivity has been forgotten. Especially, when SMVB has the potential to be the heart of the suburban railway network.

DH visited the Baiyappanahalli metro station for a reality check on the connectivity to the Sir MV terminal.

The railways and BMTC have only been making tall claims that they have provided first and last mile connectivity. The air-conditioned station is friendly only to people with private vehicles.

For the poor, the commute either burns a hole in their pockets or forces them to take a two-km long walk on half-laden or sometimes missing pedestrian paths strewn with garbage.

The best option is to either travel by their own vehicle or hail an auto or a cab to the Sir MV terminal.

The new terminal, aimed to decongest the Yeswantpur terminal, is said to have bus routes from nearby metro stations - Baiyappanahalli and Swami Vivekananda.

The 10 new bus routes introduced from different areas were said to pass by both Baiyappanahalli and Swami Vivekananda metro stations, as per information given by a senior BMTC official of north-east division. “Every 10 minutes, you will get a bus,” he said.

A reality check at these metro stations, which included interaction with regular passengers, showed that those who seek to travel between Sir MV terminal and the metro stations are on their own.

Personnel at the BMTC helpline said they were not informed of any new bus route to the new terminal.

Saritha (name changed) said she waited for 25 minutes at the bus stand near Baiyappanahalli metro station, but came across no bus to the new terminal.

Anusha waited at the bus stop near Swami Vivekananda metro station for about 45 minutes, but found no bus towards the new terminal. “I couldn’t even get an auto from there. Finally, I managed to find an Ola cab, but it cost me a lot,” Anusha said. DH spoke to several people in the vicinity of the new terminal and they confirmed the lack of buses.

Those who use private vehicles to reach the terminal have to negotiate the narrow stretch of road.

The poor suffer the most as they walk the two km from Old Madras Road to avoid shelling out money for an autorickshaw.

The autorickshaw fare from the Baiyappanahalli metro station to the new railway terminal ranges from Rs 80 to Rs 180.

The Swami Vivekananda and Baiyappanahalli metro stations are just 2 km and 2.5 km, respectively, from the terminal.

So why the high fares? It turns out that autorickshaw drivers do not get passengers in the return direction. “There is a bus available from the other side. There is no bus from here that goes to the new terminal. The sharp bends make it difficult for the buses to ply on that route,” a driver said.

The railways and the BMTC have left the passengers to fend for themselves.

‘No prior planning’

Urban transport activist Sanjeev Dyamannavar said the lack of prior planning for integration has resulted in poor connectivity to the Rs 314-crore terminal from Baiyappanahalli’s transport hubs.

He said the railways and the city transport authorities have to draw up short-term and long-term plans for integration of the present networks with the new terminal.

“In the short term, the BMTC should arrange regular buses and the railways should run MEMU trains between Yeshwantpur and Whitefield via SMVB in the morning and evening hours. In the long-term, a walkalator connecting Baiyappanahalli metro station and SMVB is a practical solution, despite the long distance of more than one km,” he said.

One wonders what’s the use of an AC terminal if it can’t be accessed by the common man.