From Wednesday, commuters from Bangalore travelling to destinations in North Karnataka will have to board Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses from the new Peenya Satellite Bus Station.
As part of the long-term strategy to decongest Kempegowda Bus Station (KBS), KSRTC has established its third satellite bus station at Peenya while the others on Mysore Road and Shanthinagar have been functional for some time now.
K.S. Vishwanath, General Manager (Traffic), KSRTC, said KBS was set up when the city’s population was four million and now the city’s population is 10 million. “Despite having three satellite bus stations, KBS (Majestic) has not become completely decongested. But without these satellite stations, the situation would have been even worse.”
A source in KSRTC said it was essential to shift buses as the Namma Metro has taken up substantial space at KBS. Satellite bus stations are a forward looking plan, which has taken into account the way the city will grow in 10 to 15 years.
On people finding Peenya too far off to board an inter-city bus, a source said that even KBS is far away for people from areas such as HSR Layout. While there is always an initial resistance to locations, people accept it after some time, the source said, adding that all satellite stations are connected by Samparka Sarige buses to help passengers commute between them and KBS.
CriticalHowever, some passengers who take inter-city buses from Bangalore say that the Peenya station, as also other satellite bus stations, are located too far from the centre of the city and are difficult to access.
Vinay Srinivas of Bus Prayanikara Vedike said passengers living in South Bangalore, especially those with luggage and children, will find it difficult to reach the Peenya bus station. He said that the satellite stations do not seem be decongesting KBS and questioned why the private buses were allowed to park there, thus adding to the traffic.
