A majority of the commuters who use the Metro in Bengaluru have always had to worry about traversing the distance from station to home.
To counter this inconvenience, the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) on Thursday introduced 23 new air-conditioned Volvo Metro feeder buses that will ply every five minutes from the Metro stations.
Currently, the buses ply from Swamy Vivekananda Metro Station to ITPL via Biappanahalli, Tin Factory, Hoodi, Marathalli Bridge and Kundanahalli Cross.
Ajinkya Somanna, a 27-year-old marketing professional, travels from Hoodi to Trinity Circle every day for work: “If I take the bus from Hoodi, it takes me at least 20 minutes to reach SV Metro Station. I cannot afford to hire a cab every day. This will be good as I will save a lot of travelling time.”
The 23 AC buses will carry out 229 single trips everyday from SV Metro to ITPL. The BMTC has also introduced 16 non-AC feeder buses that will make 94 single trips per day, said BMTC PRO, V Nagaraja, while speaking to The News Minute.
Passengers can avail daily and monthly passes for the same. “The daily pass will cost Rs. 85 and the monthly pass is pegged at Rs. 1590. With these, commuters can journey anywhere between SV Metro Station and ITPL,” he added.
Shravya P who is a play-school teacher, travels daily from Kundanahalli Cross to her play-school at Binnamangala: “It’s high time BMTC did something to ensure that the vehicle density in Bengaluru goes down. I hope this will make people travel by bus rather than hire cabs.”
Pass-holders can travel on both AC and non-AC feeder buses, as well as on those plying on other routes across the city. Nagaraja says that the pass-system was introduced to avoid hassles of always having adequate change in hand.
Those availing the daily pass will be provided an insurance cover of Rs. 1 lakh in case of death or absolute incapacitation, and Rs 20,000 as medical reimbursement, in case of injuries. For monthly pass-holders, it is Rs. 5 lakh in case of death, and Rs 50,000 in medical reimbursement.
Daily passes can be had from Thursday onwards, while monthly passes will be issued from 01 March.