Bengaluru: Not only has BMRCL come under criticism for lack of integration with other modes of transport, it is also drawing flak for not integrating their upcoming lines with old ones.
MG Road interchange
The case in point is the MG Road interchange, on the underground Red Line of Phase-2, which is 350 metres away from the elevated MG Road Metro along the Purple Line.
“How is it an interchange if a person has to walk that distance, either by coming on the road or using an escalator? Will that person have to buy another token or swipe twice? An interchange should be like the one at the Kempegowda Metro station. How they will move people without going through the turnstiles remains to be seen," said Mr Srinidhi, a member of Praaja RAAG advocacy group.
The principle of locating stations should be to help majority of the public, rather than how easy it is for BMRCL to build, he said.
“If they had planned earlier, the Purple Line would also have been underground, meeting the Red Line MG Road interchange. Now it is like two different Metro stations altogether," he said.
Dairy Circle
The Dairy Circle station is not actually at Dairy Circle, but about 350-400 metres away from it. A student would have to walk at least one kilometre to reach the Christ College campus, with the current station alignment.
“Having at least the station entry points near the Dairy Circle would have been beneficial to Christ University students and employees of IT companies, like Tech Mahindra and Accenture nearby. Since BMRCL is going to block and use the underpass from Bannerghatta, they might as well ensure that the station gates are closer to the circle," he said.
BMRCL
Asked about these pain points, Mr Channappa Goudar, GM, Metro Land Acquisition, said, “The MG Road interchange is underground, but not far from the MG Metro station. The station entry will be at concourse level anyway, on either sides of Kamaraj Road. Facility will be made for passengers to go from the underground platform to the Purple Line's MG station."
He said, “There is an underpass at Dairy Circle. It is not possible to construct the Metro station at the junction and we cannot use the cut and cover method here. It has to be after the underpass," he explained.
