ORR bus priority lane revival: Can Bengaluru succeed where most Indian cities have failed?

A separate lane for only buses to ease traffic congestion might sound practical on paper, but it has seldom been implemented properly in India.

Bengaluru is bringing back the bus priority lane (BPL) along the Outer Ring Road (ORR) in a new avatar, allowing high occupancy vehicles in the zone.

A version of the globally-tested bus rapid transport system (BRTS), the new plan proposes allowing vehicles carrying more than three people into the lane along with buses in an effort to reduce congestion in the high-traffic zone that houses major IT corridors.

The system, which was in place before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, had seen some success, with bus travel time being cut by 15 minutes and an increase of commuters by 4%.

The dedicated bus lane on the ORR was established in 2019 and covered 17 km — from Central Silk Board to K R Puram. However, the construction for Blue-line metro meant that the 25,000 fibre-reinforced bollards on both sides of the road had to be removed.

According to officials, BPL will now be a part of the Rs 400-crore redevelopment along the ORR, from K R Puram to Central Silk Board, which includes white-topping, asphalting, and improvements to footpaths and service roads.

A separate lane for buses to ease traffic congestion might sound practical on paper, but it has seldom been implemented properly in India.

BRTS a failure in India?

Delhi, which got the BRTS in 2008, was the first to scrap the project a decade ago in 2016 after traffic jams and accidents took centre stage.

The project, planned for 18 km, was, however, implemented only on a 5-km stretch. There was instant pressure on the then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to scrap it.

However, the project was not scrapped completely, but there was no extension of it either. It was the Aam Aadmi Party government that completely scrapped the initiative even as metro took centrestage in the national capital.

Design and implementation in Delhi was not the best. It is believed that such a system flopped in the national capital and elsewhere across the nation because of their low passenger-per-hour-per-direction capacity.

In 2006, Pune was the first Indian city to introduce the system, which was almost immediately termed as a failure.

Last month, the Pune Municipal Corporation decided to remove the BRTS corridor along Nagar Road, stretching from Somnathnagar to Kharadi. Earlier, it had demolished two more corridors from Swargate to Hadapsar and Yerawada to Kharadi to reduce traffic issues.

With the removal of the corridors, the roads are now broad for private and public vehicles alike, reducing congestion.

It is a sorry story even in tier-2 cities. The Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2025 ordered the removal of the BRTS corridor in Indore and issued a similar directive in 2024 for the State capital Bhopal.

Andhra Pradesh's Vijayawada saw only 4 km of the initially planned 15-km stretch of the project being implemented before it was junked.

Reasons for failure

Apart from traffic congestion outside of the dedicated corridor, other common reasons for the system to fail in major cities is private vehicles entering bus lanes, paving way for increase in accidents.

Maintenance of buses and terminals have also proven to be challenging, often leading to loss in revenue as the number of passengers do not match the number of buses being run at regular frequencies.

Ahmedabad, a success story

While most cities have failed to implement BRTS effectively, Ahmedabad stands out as a shining example. The network covers 89 km in the city, while 1.6 lakh residents use the service daily.

The agency runs 200 electric and 150 CNG buses at 10-minute intervals. However, even in Ahmedabad, the services have reportedly become less frequent and less reliable.

Last-mile connectivity remains a common problem even in Ahmedabad. A CEPT University study found that 67 per cent of public transport users in the city still need to switch modes to reach their destination.

Surat has also seen success, with the municipality planning to expand the system covering 95 per cent of the city by 2045.

Karnataka's guinea pig

Closer to Bengaluru, the Huballi-Dharwad BRTS saw initial success with several sections, including students, senior citizens and daily commuters using the facility in large numbers.

In the twin cities, 85 dedicated AC buses run through the four-lane corridor. These buses have exclusive access and function like a metro.

Buses run every three minutes, according to the city’s BRTS body. Roughly 2.2 lakh people commute daily between Hubballi and Dharwad, and of these, nearly 85,000 use the BRTS.

However, poor maintenance of buses, coupled with citizens drifting into the dedicated lanes in private vehicles have resulted in several accidents and breakdowns.

It is to be seen if the system will be implemented with success in Bengaluru. BMTC managing director Sivakumar K B has already urged companies along the ORR to approach the corporation for chartered and dedicated services, reviving dedicated fleet operations at IT parks that existed before the pandemic. He also suggested issuing discounted bus passes for employees.