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With growing demand for airport buses from various parts of the city, the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is planning to increase Vayu Vajra airport bus services.
Commuters heading to the airport have been urging BMTC to enhance the frequency of airport buses. Poorna Ram, a regular commuter to Bengaluru airport, said: “The airport bus service is excellent and economical compared to taxis. Ever since I began using the airport buses from Whitefield, I’ve saved a lot of money. A one-way cab journey costs ₹1,000, whereas the bus fare is just around ₹350.”
Officials said the BMTC airport service transports an average of 13,000 passengers daily, generating a revenue of ₹32 lakh. The service operates on 17 routes with a total of 132 buses scheduled each day, resulting in 912 trips. However, there is demand to introduce more routes as well as frequency.
Now that the purple line is fully operational, the BMTC plans to launch additional routes in response to passenger demand, particularly focusing on connections to metro stations. Kiran Raj, a commuter, said: “Since the purple line stretch is fully operational, many people without airport bus connectivity believe that more airport buses should be introduced on metro stretches, where those passengers can take airport buses.”
The BMTC official said: “We currently have 16 trips from metro stations to Kempegowda International Airport, and we plan to introduce more such metro routes in the future based on passenger demand.”
Meanwhile, the BMTC plans to replace most of the Airport Volvo buses with electric AC buses soon. The corporation aims to roll out 320 low-floor AC electric buses, each measuring 12 metres at an estimated cost of ₹150 crore under the Gross Cost Contract model.
“We are procuring 320 electric AC buses in which around 130 electric buses are planned to depute for airport routes,” an official added. This decision follows the State government’s approval to introduce electric AC buses into the existing fleet of BMTC.
