Bengalurú’s worsening traffic condition needs no introduction.The number of vehicles registered in the city stands at 70.28 lakh which is exactly double than that of 10 years ago. And this does not even include the vehicles registered in other states. 

In an effort to solve the city's increasing traffic problems activists and civic welfare groups in Bengaluru are organising a focused on interconnecting different forms of public transport on October 7.

Among the experts who will take part in this roundtable are Ashish Verma, sustainable transportation expert at the Indian Institute of Science, Pawan Mulukutla, Head of Transport at World Resources Institute, Retired General Manager of Indian Railways. 

The Invitation has been extended to leaders of all political parties of the state including the concerned ministers, MPs, officials in BMTC, Metro, Railways, Traffic Police, and the BBMP.

“Decision makers need to know what we experience on a daily basis. It is our responsibility to convey our opinion in a forum like this so that the elected representatives and political parties have a good understanding of the practical difficulties and address the biggest problem of our city — the traffic,” Srinivas Alavilli, founding member of Citizens for Bengaluru said. 

This meeting comes at a time when there is an increasing demand from the public to make the  Bengaluru Cantonment Railway Station an integrated transport hub by building a station of the Namma Metro Phase II next to it. 

“Integration between different modes of mass public transport is the need of the hour as we are reeling under severe traffic congestion with 70+ lakh vehicles. Namma Metro is critical to our public transport system and missing any opportunity to seamlessly integrate with bus and train systems will cost us dearly for decades. The roundtable will bring to light the gaps and solutions in this regard,” Sathya Sankaran of Praja said.

The two-hour meeting will be held in Rotary House of Friendship, Lavelle Road from 4pm.