One of the city’s most recognisable landmarks and a nerve centre of the transport system, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation’s (KSRTC) Majestic bus stand is turning 50 this June.
The KSRTC has come up with various initiatives to commemorate this milestone. Among them is a museum at the bus stand on the lines of museums run by the Railways. The transport corporation is also planning to rope in Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath to display art works using scrap items at its depots or workshops, and get a postal stamp released, among other initiatives.
Shivayogi L. Kalasad, MD, KSRTC, told The Hindu , “The proposed museum will showcase the transformation of the Majestic bus stand over the years. We have appealed to the general public to share their memories, including old photos of the bus stand. The response we are getting is good. The museum will tell the story of the KSRTC — how it has grown from days of the erstwhile Mysore Government Road Transport Department to the present day.”
The bus stand was built on what was once Dharmambudhi lake. It is said that construction activities in the area started in 1965. In 1969, the bus stand was opened for operations.
“We were not able to decide so far on conducting any events to mark the occasion in view of the elections. We will take a decision after consulting public representatives and others,” Mr. Kalasad said.
Passenger footfall at the KSRTC bus stand, spread over 20 acres, is around two lakh a day. The KSRTC operates more than 2,900 bus trips, including premier buses, to various destinations, including inter-State operations.
The KSRTC parted with 7.5 acres of land to Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. to build the Kempegowda interchange metro station in 2010–11. After Phase 1 of Namma Metro was fully commissioned, over 75,000 people have been using the metro station on any given day.
In addition to the KSRTC, Bangalore Metropolitain Transport Corporation operates over 16,000 trips of city bus from Majestic. The number of passengers using the BMTC bus sand ranges from seven to eight lakh a day.
(First of a series on the city’s central bus stand.)
