Nearly five months after the alternative road to Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) was thrown open to vehicle users, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has started operating services on this route.
On Wednesday, for the first time, the transport utility operated the Vayu Vajra bus, from Electronics City to KIA, on the road.
A BMTC official said, “The Electronics City to KIA route is popular among air passengers. The new route (8E) has been introduced following requests from users. To avoid traffic on Hosur Road, we also started using the expressway. After Silk Board, the bus reaches Tin Factory and then Hennur Cross. From this point, it goes to Bagalur and avoids the traffic in Hebbal. The new service also saves a great amount of time for passengers.”
The alternative road was opened in March by then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, prior to the announcement of the Assembly elections. Though the authorities are yet to complete construction work, and safety remains a problem, hundreds of taxis use to alternative road to go to Electronics City, Hoskote, Whitefield and other areas.
To improve ridership, the BMTC is also contemplating introducing last-mile connectivity for people commuting to and from the airport. To do this, the transport corporation is likely to rely on bikes, taxis and autorickshaws. The modalities of this initiative have yet to be decided upon.
“There is a proposal to provide last-mile connectivity services on an experimental basis, and talks are on with aggregators,” said BMTC managing director V. Ponnuraj.
He added that the plan is to involve smaller players operating in the aggregator space. “The corporation is also working on providing online reservation for Vayu Vajra services,” he added.
At present, over 10,000 passengers use bus services to and from the airport every day, of which 60% use bus services to travel from KIA to various destinations in the city. The BMTC operates 97 buses on 14 airport routes. The Electronics City and Majestic routes see the highest patronage.
