BMTC bus breakdown brings Bengaluru's Outer Ring Road to a standstill

Bengaluru: Traffic came to a standstill along the Silk Board Junction-KR Puram stretch of the Outer Ring Road (ORR) for over four hours on Tuesday evening after a BMTC bus broke down near a busy intersection, severely affecting thousands of office-goers returning home. 

Vehicular movement was already slow due to the closure of the service road and ongoing white-topping work on Panathur Road. 

The situation worsened around 4.30 pm when a BMTC bus broke down on the down ramp near RMZ Ecospace Tech Park in Bellandur towards Agara, bringing traffic to a standstill. 

"A crane was deployed but it couldn't pull the bus forward because its steering was jammed. After much struggle, it was finally pulled back and moved to the side," Karthik Reddy, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), told DH. 

He said white-topping work on Panathur Road — a crucial link — had diverted traffic to the Varthur-Marathahalli stretch. 

The road was closed on October 6, and work is expected to take another 20 days, he added. 

"Congestion has already been severe for the last few days due to the white-topping. This incident created a cascading effect," he said. 

The traffic police put in additional personnel from other areas to help clear the gridlock. 

Reddy said he visited the spot, along with two deputy commissioners of police (traffic) and four traffic police inspectors, to oversee operations. 

While police said traffic along the ORR was largely restored around 7.30 pm, slow vehicular movement continued for some more time. 

Varun Rao, an engineer, said the ITPL-Hoodi-Graphite India-Brookefield Road, along with KTPO-Graphite-Kundalahalli Gate roads, jammed from ITPL itself. 

The mandatory work-from-office requirement only added to the congestion. 

"Looks like everyone came to the office today to cover the WFO quota before Deepawali week. I haven't seen this traffic from Hoodi to Graphite junction before not even during heavy rains," he wrote on X. 

According to Krishna Kumar Gowda of the Greater Bengaluru IT and Companies Associations, two more vehicles, including a school bus, broke down in Bellandur, worsening the situation. 

One motorcyclist recalled covering 6 km in an hour. Some said they covered just 1 km in that much time.  

One commuter said it took two hours to reach Kadubeesanahalli from Kalyan Nagar. 

Another commuter said he spent two hours to travel from Graphite India junction to Marathahalli, a distance of just 4 km. 

Many commuters said the situation had been nearly as bad in the morning. 

E-buses under scanner

The trigger for the massive traffic congestion along the ORR appears to be the breakdown of an air-conditioned electric bus operated by the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC). 

Unlike diesel buses, the BMTC procures electric vehicles under a wet lease model, paying the manufacturer on a per-kilometre basis. The manufacturer is also responsible for bus maintenance and driver deployment. 

The buses have come under the scanner for abrupt braking, rash driving and poor ride quality.