Only a few years ago, most talked about how Bangalore centred on its endless traffic jams and how these jams were a drain on the booming IT industry. The jams still top the list of woes in India?s technology hub but the situation doesn?t appear as bleak as it used to be. Perhaps the improved spirits are in anticipation of the city?s single biggest infrastructure solution that will go live this summer.
After four years in the making, the first seven kilometres of Bangalore?s 42.3 km long metro rail system are due to get a safety certification in March. Once commercial operations commence, the Metro will hopefully do for Bangalore what it has done for Delhi.
In a city that runs India?s only profitable city bus service but where not enough citizens leave their cars at home, the metro?s Reach-1, as the first section is called, will start by ferrying an estimated 25,000 people per day between the upscale residential locality of Indiranagar and the city?s central business hub at MG Road. This is a small start for Bangalore where the number of two-wheelers and cars has doubled to 38.69 lakh in 2010 from 18.88 lakh in 2005. The current figure is nearly three times that of 2001, which was 12.99 lakh. This is a reflection of the boom that overtook the city whose infrastructure is yet to grow out of the ?Pensioners Paradise? tag that was more suitable two decades ago.
However, over the past few years, as the Metro?s first elevated tracks have risen into place, myriad other attempts to ease the congestion too have shown some result. According to the state government, around Rs 6,000 crore has been spent since 2008 to develop infrastructure in Bangalore, including transport and civic amenities.
For one, the once torturous drive along the software corridor to Electronics City?where big names such as Infosys Technologies are located?is now a breeze with a 9 km flyover that opened in early 2010. Besides, the opening up of a semi-circular outer peripheral road linking the national highways from Mumbai and Chennai has given heavy traffic an outlet away from the city roads.
The IT sector had also lent its muscle to citizen protests over the closure of the city?s old airport in 2008 because commuting to the new, larger international airport located 36 km away was fraught with bottlenecks. Since then, there has been an intensive drive to provide the city roads leading to the international airport a wide, signal-free corridor even though the use of quick-fix flyovers called magic boxes has attracted some controversy.
By March this year, the state government plans to select a private partner to build a high-speed rail link connecting the city?s heart to the international airport at an estimated cost of Rs 6,010 crore.
But even Bangalore?s metro rail system?s first phase of 42.30 km isn?t going to completely solve the traffic riddle when it becomes fully operational a couple of years later. The Metro, which has seen costs escalate from Rs 8,158 crore to Rs 11,609 crore, will likely be accompanied by a monorail system for which the government has commissioned a detailed project report by the UK-based consultancy Capita Symonds. The monorail is envisaged as a 40 km feeder network connecting the southern and western parts of the city and its indicative cost is pegged at Rs 5,600 crore.
The urban transportation makeover, meanwhile, also involves the state-run transport corporations and the railways. Bangalore was the first city in the country to introduce low-floor air-conditioned buses? routes as a premium service in 2006 and the profit-making Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC)?which now has 471 Volvo buses in its fleet of 6,200?says that occupancy is on the rise after a slow start. Patronised largely by the city?s IT fraternity, these high-end buses are popular along the city?s software corridors to Whitefield and Electronics City where the Metro won?t reach.
What the BMTC is putting its money into, however, is a series of large, swanky bus stops that would double as parking lots and inspire motorists to leave their vehicles there and hop onto a bus to work. Besides, these stops are also aimed at being converted into all-in-one stops for shopping and possibly entertainment. Last week, BMTC inaugurated its fifth such bus stop complex and another five of these complexes, part-funded by the central government under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, are close to completion. The state-run company, which reported a profit of Rs 65 crore on revenue of about Rs 1,000 crore last fiscal, also expects these complexes to contribute substantial revenue through rent from commercial spaces.
The railways and the inter-city bus service, meanwhile, are routing more trains and buses through suburban centres to ease the congestion in the city hub. Yet, the first stretch of the Bangalore Metro that has neared completion is just about 17% of the entire line. At most of Bangalore?s key residential and business hubs, the daily disruption must continue for a while longer.