Dedicated bus lanes to be tested on old Airport Road

Move your vehicle aside when you see a BMTC bus on Airport Road. The Bus Priority System (BPS), to be tested soon in the City, beginning with Airport Road, will require all vehicles to shift lanes to make way for the BMTC bus on its way.

T G Sitharam, Chairperson of Centre for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CISTUP), spoke exclusively to Deccan Herald on his team’s proposal to the State Transport Department to improve public transport. Sitharam, Professor of Civil Engineering at IISc, believes that the BPS fares better than Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT) because the latter would require further felling of trees which the city cannot afford. “I am against felling of trees for widening because it has been proved that road widening is no solution to curb traffic congestion”, said Sitharam. The BPS is a scaled-down version of BRT. While the latter provides a dedicated line on the stretch of road, BPS allows all traffic to use lanes normally, but to provide space for a public transport bus to ensure reduced time of travel. The proposal was submitted a year earlier to be tested on Old Airport Road, said Sitharam. “It has yet to be implemented. It is for the government agencies to decide,” he said. There is still no meeting held between BMTC and BBMP on the matter. All the BBMP engineers who were contacted were in the dark on the BPS. “The matter is being discussed seriously. BRT cannot work on all arterial roads in the City, but I strongly believe that the BPS concept can work,” says BMTC Managing Director K R Srinivasa. Final meeting He said he would have a final meeting with CISTUP next week before proposing the plan to BBMP or higher transport authorities. Palanetra Nayak, Chief Engineer, BMTC also support the idea. “Priority lanes are in discussion although I cannot say when it will start. Old Airport road is the best option for the pilot run of the system and we should go ahead with that,” he said. ”Road expansion is a difficult task. Bangalore will only benefit from a priority lane. Traffic police and BBMP also need to work closely with us,” says Srinivasa. The CISTUP Chairman only hopes that the Old Airport Road pilot testing is not misused by the BBMP as an excuse to fell more trees to widen roads