Public transportation a boon or a bane?

BANGALORE: Nagenahalli, in North Bangalore, is an area which has come under the spotlight very recently.Unlike most other growing localities of the city, it is not known for towering buildings or fancy malls.Making its way into the future with small steps, the development seems to be backtracked by hassles such as low bus frequency, autos charging more than the meter and the common problem of seating in the BMTC buses.Waiting for a change “I stand here for around one hour every day but I cannot get a bus to V Nagenahalli.I do not see why the concerned authorities turn a blind eye towards the situation of public transportation here,” said Gloria, a resident of V Nagenahalli.Vishwanath Nagenahalli is located 1.4 kilometres away from the main bus stop in Hebbal.Commuting from Nagenahalli to Hebbal puts commuters in extreme distress.While there is another route that connects V Nagenahalli to rest of the city that goes via Kanakanagar, Sultan palya, RT Nagar and Pushpanjali, the flaw in the plan lies in the fact that the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses are irregular.Though there should be buses at an interval of every half an hour, commuters do not catch a glimpse of any blue coloured bus despite hours of waiting.No where to sit Most BMTC buses in the city are marked with seat allocations with the first seat assigned to ‘physically challenged people’, the next five for ‘ladies’, and a few for the ‘senior citizens’.But an inconsistency in following the same has led to severe complications for the senior citizens of Nagenahalli.“Some buses aren’t marked with stickers to indicate seats for senior citizens and ladies.In another few cases, regardless of stickers, we have to request youngsters to leave the seats.Often, they refuse to give us seats.These are the kinds of things we face everyday,” said N Gajendra Naidu, a bus traveller.Another elderly citizen, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Senior citizens should be given respect and should be looked after, as at one point of time all are going to be on that stage of the life.These youngsters do not seem to realise that.” While this is a problem all across the city, the citizens of Nagenahalli seem to be worst affected.Road king Adding to this doleful situation, people face the dilemma of autos charging more than the meter.The reason the problem is more pronounced in this area is the distance that has to be covered by the residents from Nagenahalli to Hebbal.While in most other areas people just take buses to commute, autos have become a necessity here.Taking advantage of this, autodrivers either ask for double the amount that is shown on the meter or decide their own charge for the journey.The helpless and disappointed travellers, are forced to take an auto which ends up burning a hole in their pockets.“When I imposed a condition that I would take their auto only if they use the meter, they replied that I deserve a ‘ghoda gadi’ (Tonga) to reach home.” said Suguna, a commuter.B-TRAC solution For every lock, there is a key, for every hitch, there is a solution.Assuming that the government has knowledge about the immoral behaviour of the autodrivers, it has taken a very gratifying step towards the helpless commuters.B-TRAC (Putting Bangalore Back on Track) is a programme launched for the travellers and is a small handout that can be accessed easily in any traffic police station.All the necessary directions are provided to make complaints against any traffic rule violators including auto drivers.When approached, Moonraj, a traffic cop from the Hebbal traffic police station, Ring Road, said “People remain ignorant about these pamphlets.Till date, we have not received much response from the public.But we are trying our best to create awareness about the programme by advertising it on boards, hoardings and newspapers.” He further added that any such incidents should be reported to the police station so action can be taken.While problems continue to plague the locality of Nagenahalli, residents ask why despite the fact that they have lodged several complaints to the concerned authorities about the same, it goes unheard.BGSR Gowda, assistant traffic manager of the area, said that they would ensure that more buses are accommodated to ply towards the area.He said, “We will try and increase the number of buses but we cannot do much about the increase of buses from Hebbal to Nagenahalli as there is no particular route that can be followed.”