The closure of a stretch of the Bengaluru-Nilgiri road in Mysuru to lay a concrete top has severely hit the city bus services.
Not only has it forced the KSRTC’s Mysuru division (urban) to divert several of its buses to ply on alternative routes, the piling up of vehicles at K.R. Circle has badly hit entry and exit of buses from the bus stand.
Though buses used to enter the bus stand from the gates opposite Garuda Mall on Albert Victor Road and exit from the gates on Sayyaji Rao Road, opposite Lansdowne Building, the authorities are now being forced to allow half the buses to exit on Albert Victor Road, to allow them to take the alternative route via K.R. Circle. City buses now make about 5,000 entries and 2,500 exits from the gates opposite Garuda Mall.
After three days of chaos at K.R. Circle, the authorities have now created an exclusive lane for city buses by erecting barricades between Chamaraja Circle and the entrance of the city bus stand on Albert Victor Road.
The KSRTC’s divisional controller (urban), K. Ramamurthy, told The Hindu that they have shifted more than 400 schedules operating towards J.P. Nagar and Kuvempunagar from the city bus stand to the road between the Command Area Development Authority (CADA) premises and Mysuru palace. “About 400 trips a day are now starting and ending from opposite the CADA office,” he said.
Devaraja traffic inspector Sandesh Kumar said the time span for traffic to pass K.R. Circle has also been altered in view of the increased flow from Albert Victor Road and the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) building side on Sayyaji Rao Road. “We have increased it from 20 to 45 seconds for vehicles coming from Albert Victor Road and from 20 to 30 seconds for vehicles coming from MCC building [side],” he added.
The buses going towards N.R. Mohalla, Rajiv Nagar, Siddhartha Layout, Alanahalli etc., via the Bengaluru-Nilgiri road, have now been re-routed to exit the bus stand from Albert Victor Road, take a U-turn at K.R. Circle and proceed to Hardinge Circle and the mofussil bus stand before covering their designated routes.
“ The Intelligent Transport System of the KSRTC has also helped us optimize the routes,” Mr. Ramamurthy added.
The KSRTC operates 475 buses, which make 6,600 trips across the city, transporting between 2.5 lakh and 3 lakh passengers a day.
