Bengaluru: The five-day long ban on private buses entering the city between 7 am and 10 pm introduced to keep pollution levels in check during the global investors meet, took off on Monday, leaving many passengers inconvenienced and disgruntled. While alternative arrangements have been made for dropping and picking up of passengers arriving by private buses, many seemed to have been caught unawares by the ban.
Mrs. Latha Rao of Udupi who arrived to the city with a toddler on a late night bus said it was stopped near Nelamangala while her destination was Jayanagar 4th block. “It would not have been easy for me to travel with my eight month old child in a BMTC bus which was arranged to bring us to the city. It would have meant changing two buses with my luggage and child. So I spent around Rs 800 on an auto from Nelamangala to bring me to the city. If I was aware of the ban, I would have changed by travel plans,” she said.
Pointing out that most people booked their tickets at least 15 days in advance, Mr Gopal Shetty of Mangalore, said the transport department should have announced its decision a lot earlier for the convenience of passengers.
Most inconvenienced were women and senior citizens. Thousands of patients arriving in the city from Tamil Nadu for treatment at NIMHANS and the St. John’s hospital also found the ban hard to digest.
Private buses, which have been banned entry for the duration of Invest Karnataka, the global investors meet, that will be held in Bengaluru between February 3 and 5, have been told to drop off passengers at six spots : on Tumkur Road (in International Exhibition Center grounds), NICE road junction off Mysore Road, Attibele on Hosur road, Nice road on Kanakapur road, Toll Plaza on KR Puram road and Bagalur cross on Hebbal Road. The BMTC is then expected to ferry them from these spots on 110 buses to various parts of the city. The transport department has formed 17 teams to oversee the enforcement of the ban.
Why were the BMTC and KSRTC spared?
Not taking kindly to the ban, private bus owners, claimed they were being targeted unfairly as their vehicles were far less polluting that the government- run buses. "KSRTC and BMTC buses cause a lot of pollution. Compared to them, we operate advanced fleets. It is unfair to target the private buses,” said one owner of a private bus.
