The (45 Storey?) Inter Modal Transit Center seems to be taking some shape. Snippets from today's DH Report.
The State Government has shortlisted eight firms for the Rs 1,300-crore Integrated Mass Transport System (IMTS) project proposed on a public-private partnership (PPP) model at Majestic in the City.
The project envisages linking of all forms of transport –– the BMTC, KSRTC, Metro and the Railways –– besides creating parking space for more than 3,000 cars near the City railway station.
Ashoka said work to construct the 45-storeyed integrated system at Majestic would begin by December this year.
Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) Managing Director Syed Zameer Pasha said the construction could only begin after the completion of the work on the Metro.
KSRTC Managing Director Gaurav Gupta said: “The 45-storey building (that Ashoka had spoken about earlier) is an artistic impression. We will have to see how the new structure can come up once one of the companies is finalised.”
Minister says work begins in Dec, while BMTC thinks it can only start after metro is complete. KSRTC doesn't seem to be aware of the exact plan. I'm confused, and really concerned. If the first line stake-holders of the facility don't know what is being done, what should we, the real users and the tax payers, expect?
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Design Brief
Here is the link to the design brief on KSRTC website. Has the split up for 1300cr mentioned above, and talks of a 55 storey commercial tower. Some artistic views are in there too, and we've seen them in bits and pieces in the past. Interestingly, the number of bus bays for KSRTC doesn't change much (from current 95 to 96), but BMTC gets a bit of a boost (74 to 96).
Is there a need for this?
Do we really need this one?
Could we just have a BMTC Stand here & get the 100acre Race Course land for KSRTC bus stand?
Getting everything under one roof is surely a good idea but wont this get more traffic inside the city?
Do we need to bifarcate the traffic to the outskirts?BMTC has large tracts of land near Peenya.
KSRTC not needed in Majestic
we dont need a full fledged KSRTC/BMTC bus stand at Majestic at all with the metro coming into the picture..metro will and needs to completely change the PT usage patterns in our city!
Enough we got all busses BMTC/KSRTC into majestic..the old hub/spoke model is a no no!
Also there was a comment on SSC which said that they are planning more than 3000 cars parking at the new ITMC..this is again not needed..as said by Sivasailam himself..metro will need large parking at the end stations only..intermediate stations like this ITMC does not need that much parking!
Talking of KSRTC users who park overnight today..lets take a scenario..I used to do trips to Tirupati from Majestic..I would get my two wheeler into Majestic and park overnight..and pickup the vehicle after coming back the next day!
Once metro goes live..all I will need to do is use metro to get to Byp and take the tirupati bus from the KSRTC stand there and come back the same way!
Car Park
Parking would basically be used by people from places unaccessible by BMTC/Metro/Railways/KSRTC & their staff,hotlers i guess which need to get in pretty early in the morning.
We need offices here instead of huge car parking
Across the world, CBDs are utilized very wisely, not in the case of Bangalore. People live in Suburbs, travel to CBDs using commuter rail by parking their cars in railway station of suburbs. Take a metro / local bus to travel within CBD.Vehliicles are less entertained in CBDs with huge parking charges and congestion prices in some cities.
In case of Bengaluru, we have all the offices coming in outskirts in SEZs. The offices do not have any restrictions on car / 2 wheeler parking, nor our roads. People who relocate to Bangalore for work will settle somewhere near these offices, but, those who are living here from years or natives of Bengaluru, having their own houses somewhere faroff, have to travel around 25+ kms one way daily in this heavy traffic, loosing their precious time, causing emission, congestion etc..etc..
We will have Namma Metro two lines meeting in Majestic, may be one day will have full fledged commuter rail connecting Tumkur, Doddaballapur, Channapatna etc. If we could have offices in multi storied buildings in and around Majestic, with high rise buildings sharing office space, we could have a similar and proven model used across world wide.
Hence this InterModal Transit Centre (something of the sort of SouthStation, Boston) needs to wisely be used and more for office space. Places like Mantri Mall could have been well utilized for offices instead of Apartment, same is the case for the high rise apartments in Magadi Road near leprosy hospital. Namma Metro can be used by commuters coming from Suburbs to these places.
CBD Utilization
@Vasanth: Agree. We need more office space around such commuting corridors.
CBD in Bangalore is not that well defined. Is it Majestic Area? KR Market? MG Road? And in all places (except some around KR Market area), avaiable land area can certainly be better utilized. Some high rises seem to have come up on and around MG Road, but the area can certainly host a lot more.
45 storey!!!!!!!!! Is it really needed????
I personally see that a 40+ storey is utter waste that too at a place where the entery and exit is limited.
Take for example the Jayanagar TTMC. It's been 2 yrs after inaguration but still the 1st and 2nd floor isn't occupied . Only the Ground floor and the terrace is being utilized.
The 2nd floor can also be utilized for the parking which in turn reduces the congestion on raods and the roads can in turn be better utilized for commuting rather that parking at free of cost.
Well coming back to the topic. The Roads leading(entry cum exit) to the majestic are very narrow. Foremost is that, it is a area which is mainly used for the shopping by the local's and out siders.
The present traffic situation is already over the limit, then assume if you come up with 40+ (with other offices/MALLS in it) .. then how much traffic till will cause in & around Majestic.
So the next step what govt does is they will demolish all the buildings to make way for the IMTC.
Who will face the hardship and who benfits???
It is the common public who faces the hardship and it is the Politicains who benfits.
Alright, now you people will shoot back that by the time it gets finished METRO will be full felged so public will use that. But the question is how many will shift to METRO. You and I may use but can we ask everyone to use the PUBLIC TRANSPORT(METRO, BMTC).
Instead of wasting so much crores, the Govt can improve the basic facilites for the passengers and try improve its fleet.
I'm not opposing for a world class look, but the 40+ storey with offices/MALLS. We need only the MASS TRANSPORT offices, terminal's, Depot and parking space.
Please look at the Chennai Main/Central bus stand.. they have designed it so nicely with huge space for buses. It is not a multi storey at all.
Lets all think in a unique way rather than copy paste.
Look at the drawbacks of so many TTMC's that have come up and some are being constructed.
Almost all TTMC's have 4+ storey. But what is the use?????? IF the govt allows the offices/Shopping centers/ big hotels to set up here. Then can't we expect huge traffic(personal vehicles) at the exit and entry.
A TTMC should mainly have the following:
Proper bus bays, BUS DEPOTS, PASSENGER AMINITIE( FOOD COURT, rest room), ATM's, TRASPORT OFFICIAL OFFICE, Crew rest room & Parking Space.
Shashi
Why only 45 floors? Why only 1 building!?
Our city needs a dense, packed, and well utilized city center. I would say we need more 45 floor buildings in there, in mixed model - offices on half the floors, residences on top. Guys would take Metro, HSRL etc, and come "in" from the suburbs to work.
Ten 45-floor buildings in the CBD would mean 2 less "wasteful usage of land" aka BDA layouts with 30x40 plots around 30 feet road. I would rather do dense CBD and develop parks and amenities in the peripheries. What we are seeing instead is "wasteful" CBD, and disappearing lakes and forests on the peripheries.
Enough of going "out" to E-City, Peenya, Jigani, Whitefield for work. Let's change the game a bit and go "in" to work as well.
silo approach by BMTC
more from todays news paper here
What happened to the plans of Big Trunk bus routes? Direction based routing is the only smart way of addressing the mess we have for bus transport in the city now..
Lack of co-ordination btw PT providers(BMRCL/BMTC/KSRTC) has costed a lot for the city already..where we have metro stations very far from main Bus terminals..its high time all sit down at one place to decide the best way!