Two new initiatives have been designed to encourage commuters to switch to public transport and cycling. All buses, BMTC and private, moving along Tumkur Road, now have to take the service road while other traffic has been confined to the elevated road or the normal highway below the bridge. Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M. A. Saleem said the system has been in place for the last few weeks on a trial basis. The system of a dedicated road for bus traffic has cut down travel time on Tumkur Road, say traffic police.
“We realised that Tumkur Road has heavy bus traffic and needed a separate lane. Since all the bus stops are on the service road, there was no way we could create a lane for the buses next to the median. Hence, we decided to open the service road only for buses. In the coming days, the other traffic on the service road will be pushed to the lanes closer to the median,” Mr Saleem explained. However, traffic police are yet to introduce the Bus Priority Lane (BPL) which was supposed to be run on Old Madras Road. In the BPL system, the centre-most lanes next to the median will be exclusively allowed for buses to reduce the travel time. After the Old Airport Road there are plans to extend the same project on other major roads.
ABIDe member R. K. Misra said that soon there will be a Rapid Bus Lane System introduced on the Outer Ring Road. “The centre-most lane of the ORR is being designed in such a way that only buses will move in those lanes. These buses in dedicated lanes will carry end-to-end passengers,” Mr Misra said.