Bengaluru: What next? A train to the power corridor! Entries to underground stations are coming up in four locations in front of Vidhana Soudha.
After Minsk Square station, it will be the Vidhana Soudha UG station, where a large number of secretariat officials are expected to use the metro. A lot of things are going to change in the coming days in this locality. The approach towards work and commuting is expected to completely change. In fact, a fully functional metro is expected to boost urban tourism in a huge way with Vidhana Soudha and Cubbon Park taking center stage and experts forcing the authorities to treat this stretch as a pedestrian plaza with minimal traffic movement.
Metro, it is being said, will cater to over 1 lakh people in and around Vidhana Soudha Underground station, from employees working in Secretariat, Vikas Soudha, Vidhana South, MS Building, High Court and also visitors to these places. This will eventually attract a good number of tourists as well and considering that the Managing Director of BMRCL Pradeep Singh Kharola is also the Additional Chief Secretary of the tourism department, there will be a great many activities.
V Ravi Chandar, member of Karnataka Tourism Vision Group, feels this stretch has the potential of becoming the Central Square of the City. He says, “Historically MG Road has been that, but with the metro station becoming functional, this might change. It has wide footpaths, nice architecture, however, the over ground needs to be treated differently. We will have a brief talk with Kharola, MD of BMRCL, to make the stretch pedestrian-friendly with limited vehicle movements. Again on a Sunday, just like Cubbon Park, we can entirely close it for traffic movement.”
Voicing a similar opinion, Lokesh Hebbani, urban expert, agrees, “It can turn out to be a major tourist attraction. The authorities should think of building a platform from where the tourists can have a view of both Vidhana Soudha and High Court.”
R K Mishra feels it will definitely change the entire dynamics of the stretch. “Look at Delhi, many thought the people will never use the metro. But today a majority of people use the metro and it is one of the cleanest in the world. With good footpaths, auto stands, better bus connectivity, commuting will become easier and convenient,” he adds.
Vasanth Rao, general manager (finance) of BMRCL feels the traveling of advocates will definitely become different. He says, “This line will connect the Civil Court, Mayo Hall Court and High Court, so advocates can just bring a stroller and wheel it to the court. We will have auto stands and bus stops, but a very limited parking space as it will be more of an unloading point.”
BMTC, BMRCL discuss Smart card integration
BMTC and BMRCL are in talks for smart card integration. Currently, BMTC have shared some protocol which is classified with BMRCL and they are in talks with their vendor to see if their present BMRCL software requires any modification to integrate with the smart card system. BMTC officials maintain that irrespective of BMRCL joining the project, they will start a pilot project from December.
Besides allowing seamless travel for passengers, this card can be used for shopping and other purposes as well. Currently, the IT Sections of BMTC and Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) is working on creating an interface which will enable Metro cards to be used on BMTC buses and BMTC’s smart cards on the Namma Metro.
In fact, there will be two types of smart cards, namely, a rechargeable card that passengers can top-up when they travel and a card that will be valid for a month. The minimum recharge will be Rs 40 and each card will bear the passenger's photo, including their address. As you get inside the bus, you will be asked to swipe the card instead of the traditional way of buying tickets. Once the commuter authenticates his card and enters the destination code, the specified fare would get deducted from his card.
However, for the project to roll out, it is important for the ITS project to work out well. For it has been months since the ITS pilot project has been going on at Yelahanka depot. It is expected to become functional by December 2015.
