With the Bengaluru Metro's Purple Line from Challaghatta to Whitefield, becoming fully operational, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) launched a new high-frequency feeder bus service on Wednesday, October 11. These feeder buses will run at intervals of five minutes during peak hours and eight minutes during non-peak hours, connecting the KR Pura station to the Central Silk Board. The service was inaugurated by Karnataka Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy.
BMTC has launched feeder services along two routes that start from the KR Pura metro station. The first route goes from KR Pura to the Central Silk Board, with a frequency of five minutes during peak hours and eight minutes during non-peak hours. The second route is a circular service that travels to and from the KR Pura metro station, passing through Marathahalli, Kundalahalli, ITPL, and Garudacharpalya. This route operates every five minutes during peak hours and every ten minutes during non-peak hours.
During the launch, Karnataka Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy was accompanied by MV Rajeev Gowda, Vice-Chairperson of the State Institute For The Transformation of Karnataka (SITK), BMTC Managing Director G Sathyavathi, Srinivas Alavilli, a fellow at the World Resources Institute (Integrated Transport and Road Safety), and Manas Das, President of the Outer Ring Road Companies’ Association (ORRCA). Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Bengaluru City, MN Anucheth also participated in this initiative called ‘Personal2Public’.
The ‘Personal2Public’ campaign held at the Intel office drew a diverse group of stakeholders, including government officials, citizen groups, corporate employees working in the ORR and others. Participants pledged to use public transport at least twice a week.
Prominent campaigners, including MV Rajeev Gowda, Srinivas Alavilli, and Revathy Ashok, CEO of the Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC), lauded the initiative as a significant step in promoting a shift to public transport. The first bus departed from KR Pura station around 9.15 am and reached Intel's RMZ Ecospace office at Bellandur in 30 minutes.
Traffic Commissioner MN Anucheth said that 20 percent reduction in traffic on Old Madras Road was observed following the full operation of the Purple Line, with significant improvements at junctions like NGEF, Byappanahalli, and Tin Factory. The entire Whitefield-Challaghatta Metro corridor (Purple Line) commenced passenger service on October 9.