Phase II of Bengaluru's Namma Metro to be bigger and better, says BMRCL

With Bengalureans depending on bus services to access the metro, the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Ltd’s MD Pradeep Singh Kharola, has said that Namma Metro’s phase II will be twice the size of Phase I, the Deccan Herald reported.

Besides having more stations, Phase II will also include parking and feeder bus facilities, the report states.

Speaking to mediapersons on Thursday, Kharola said that the BMRCL is looking into ways to integrate other transport facilities with the metro as trains can run only on designated routes. He also said that the issues encountered with Phase I would be addressed in Phase II.

Kharola told mediapersons that the major problem faced during Phase I was land acquisition, which would not be much of a challenge in Phase II. Referring to a recent survey, the BMTC MC Ekroop Kaur said that 50% of metro users depend on feeder buses. Taking this into consideration, Kaur said that feeder bus services would be provided to metro stations.

The BMRCL is also working on integration between metro stations and bus depots by way of foot-over-bridges or subways for easy access, the DH report says.

The BMRCL may also introduce smaller buses for convenience.

With the city’s north corridor unhappy about the steel flyover proposal and the talk of better metro connectivity, an agreement was signed between Toyota Mobility Foundation and World Resources Institute on Thursday to seek solutions to improve metro connectivity in the area and the entirety of Bengaluru.

Gaurav Gupta, Commissioner, Industries, also told mediapersons that transport modalities to the industrial corridors in and around Bidadi with over 300 companies, have connectivity issues with the city mainly because a large number of that staff from these companies are Bengaluru residents who commute to and from the area on a daily basis. 
He also said that there would be severe public outcry if the issue was not addressed, the DH report adds.