Convenient option for many

When the Metro was first launched, most people thought it wouldn’t be all that convenient since it covers a small stretch. However, the BMTC’s Metro Feeder Bus Service, that came along with it, has been of great use to people in different parts of the City.

A Metro feeder bus connects various parts of the City to the Metro station on M G Road, in order to provide people an easy access to the Metro. But more than the commuters of the Metro, it has helped those who use the buses regularly.

 Be it the BIG10 or Suvarna buses, various types of Metro feeder buses ply frequently in different parts of the City. Metrolife spoke to a few
commuters who use this service regularly to find out the advantages and disadvantages of it.

Jhasi and Uma, two young BPO trainees, come to the MPhasis office near Utility Building everyday from the Rajajinagar-Basaveshwarnagar area. “For the middle-class people, it’s extremely convenient,” explains Jhasi.

“After finishing work, we generally take a bus to Majestic from M G Road and then head towards Rajajinagar,” she adds. Uma notes that this is highly economical. “If we had to take an auto instead, we would be paying hundreds of rupees everyday,” she says. Chaitrashi is another HR executive working on M G Road who takes the feeder service regularly.

“It’s extremely convenient as the buses are frequent and come every half-an-hour,” she exclaims.

The Metro feeder buses are of great help to people who travel from one end of the City to the other as well. Divya, a software professional in an IT major, travels all the way from her house in Yelahanka to her office on Bannerghatta Road, a good 25 kms each way everyday!

“Though my husband drops me in the mornings, I take the feeder service every evening. From Bannerghatta Road, I take the G4 and come to M G Road. From here, I take the G9 bus and go to Yelahanka,” she explains. According to Divya, the frequency of the buses is good.

“But I feel a proper bus stand should be constructed on M G Road because the road gets jammed if two buses come back-to-back,” she advises.

Like Divya, even Nagabhushan, an accountant with an auditing firm, has a piece of advice for the conductors in these buses.

“They rarely give back change. Even if they do, they don’t even intimate the commuter that they will be returning the change,” he laments. But overlooking the smaller problems, the commuters surely are happy with the service. As Nagabhushan sums up, “They are extremely convenient and are not even crowded most of the time.”