The report states that there is a need to review the elevated corridors project

To address the growing traffic congestion in the city and get citizens to shift to public modes of transport, the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) and the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) have come out with a draft Comprehensive Mobility Planning (CMP) policy.

The policy envisages a public transport network that will cover 803 km by 2031. It will include a 317-km metro network, suburban rail network of 177 km, priority bus lane corridors in different stretches totalling 202 km, and Bus Rapid Transport System and Metrolite for 107 km on NICE Road and the Peripheral Ring Road.

It also envisions an integrated mass transit system where the suburban rail network will integrate with Namma Metro and BMTC services. This multi-modal mobility has the potential to provide affordable and reliable mass transit services. The report talks about providing rail services to people living on the outskirts, including Bidadi, Ramanagaram, Tumakuru, Hosur, Bangarpet, Doddaballapur, and Devanahalli. The report has been made available for the general public on BMRCL’s official website and citizens have been invited to give their suggestions.

Incidentally, in May this year, the BMRCL had come out with a draft policy on Transit Oriented Development Policy. A senior BMRCL official said, “The report has been prepared as per the direction of the State government. Citizens can give their feedback by sending an email.”

The policy, which was prepared by the Infrastructure Development Corporation (Karnataka) Limited (iDeCK), proposes a light urban rail transit system, Metrolite on Magadi Road; Whitefield – Domlur line; and Katamanallur Gate – Sarjapura Road – Hebbal.

“The metro rail network is a mega-infrastructure project, which has the potential to reshape the city and its mobility patterns, and to contribute to cleaner urban transport,” claims the report.

‘Bengaluru needs 2,000 buses in two years’

The CMP policy highlights the shortage of buses to meet the needs of the growing population. It states that BMTC should increase the fleet size to 15,000 by 2031. The number of buses should increase to 8,634 by 2021 from the existing 6,634 vehicles. Suggestions have also been made on operating smaller capacity buses (10 to 12 seats), and electric buses.

Improving major junctions

Fifty high-density traffic junctions have been identified for improvement. “Hebbal junction, Central Silk Board junction and common sections of the Outer Ring Road and Old Madras Road between K.R. Puram railway station and Tin Factory have traffic volume of more than 3.5 lakh Passenger Car Units (PCU) per day. The capacity of these junctions is much lower leading in average traffic speed of less than 10 km per hour during peak hours,” according to the report. It proposes construction of 154 of foot over bridges to facilitate safe and efficient movement of pedestrians.

‘Review elevated corridors’

The report states that there is a need to review the elevated corridors project. “The length of the proposed elevated corridors is 88 km. Some of the elevated corridors, such as North South Corridor (NS), Central Ring Corridor (CC) and 2nd East West Corridor (EW 02), should be reviewed as there is a conflict with the metro corridors. The most cost-effective system from the perspective of efficient and sustainable mobility solution should be chosen,” acco9rding to the report.