The New Year is bound to begin with absolute chaos at KSRTC’s Kempegowda bus stand at Majestic, for the two-wheeler parking lot will cease to exist at the stroke of midnight on December 31 for Namma Metro work. And there are no alternatives arranged. Now, the parking lot currently packs about 1,200 two-wheelers at any given time.
The parking lot, located adjacent to the main entrance of the bus stand, has an area of about 3,000 sq ft. This entire area will now be transfered to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) for at least two years until the Metro Station at Majestic is commissioned.
Prakash Babu, Divisional Controller, Kempegowda Bus Station, says the corporation has never faced such a difficulty in balancing operations and people’s problems in the recent past. “We just finished making necessary implementations on Wednesday for shifting of Hyderabad-bound and 350 other services from Majestic to Shanti Nagar Bus Stand. Now we have to deal with ensuring commuters’ cooperation from January 1 after the parking lot is taken off,” said Babu. Babu emphasised the need for state-run transport corporations to work in cooperation with BMRCL and KSRTC to smoothen the Metro works. But neither the BMRCL nor KSRTC had answers for one crucial question: Where will these vehicles go once the area is taken up for the Metro project?
Babu elaborated: “We have no option or alternative space as of now. The area under the Railway Station can be used until we find places. However, in and around Majestic, there is no place for parking lots.”
Two-wheeler owners are angry and frustrated. Although they understand that KSRTC is helpless, many feel that BMRCL should consider providing an alternate parking space.
“Why should the public who have nothing to do with Metro works suffer? I won’t use the Metro for daily commuting as I travel to Tumkur daily,” says Ganesh Thirupathi.
There are also women passengers like Madhumathi Janardhanan, who works in a Chikballapur-based construction. She complains: “I leave at 7 am and reach Bangalore by 10 pm if traffic is not too much. Neither do I have the cash to spend on autorickshaws at night nor do I feel safe for a minute at Majestic. Do these corporations ever bother about problems of us women passengers?”
