Feeder Bus Routes for Areas East of Suranjandas Rd

[Note: If you have well thought out (as in precise routes and maps) local area/loop shuttle suggestions for your area, please share them as separate posts. In case of difficulty in attaching images, just mail them to "tech" at praja.in, we will attach images on your behalf. So here are Naveen's routes for his area.]

General

The areas east of Suiranjandas road have relatively narrow roads & except for CV Raman Nagar, most of the areas are poorly served with infrequent buses resulting in long waits for commuters. With the introduction of Big-10 buses, there is a chance to revamp & improve services & connect these dense areas better with minimum no. of buses & routes. Only one additional change at either Old Airport road bus stop (near HAL Police Station) or Old Madras road (Byappanahalli) will be necessary, from where commuters can transfer to Big-10s or other buses or on to the Metro at Byappanahalli, when it becomes operational.

Map-A shows the existing bus routes denoted by green lines along the various roads. (click to get the bigger  image)

There are too many bus terminuses within this area since dedicated (destination-oriented), but infrequent services were being provided to the various isolated locations wherever possible. Lines marked in Magenta are narrower sections of roads with no bus services. Of the three sections of these roads with no services, it is possible to run buses on one of them (stretch between Vignan Nagar bus station & Kaggadasapura bus station). Buses to & from CV Raman Nagar use the wider DRDO township road/s & hence, operation of even a Volvo service (201R) has been possible.

Suggested Feeder Routes

It is suggested that instead of operating several routes (eg. variants of route no.314, 330, 333, BTP buses, etc.) from city center/s to these various scattered & isolated destinations, the no. of routes & bus terminuses be minimized & through services provided as best possible. Since some of the roads are narrow for large buses, it may be better to use the smaller Swaraj Mazdas or Tata Starbuses (depending on availability within BMTC’s fleet). Private buses are already running on these roads (operated by TCS, various School buses, other private company vehicles, etc.).

Map-1 shows a possible track for Route-1 via the existing Basavanagar Bus station, Vignannagar bus station, Malleshpalya bus station, Jagadish Nagar bus station, BEML gate & LRDE /Bagmane Tech park (BTP). This route will serve all the inner areas mentioned to reach either end efficiently as also enable people arriving from Marathalli /Whitefield side & from Byappanahalli-OMR to reach BTP /LRDE & CV Raman Nagar areas with only one change.

Map-2 shows a possible track for Route-2 via Basavanagar, Vignannagar, Kaggadasapura, CV Raman Nagar, DRDO & BTP /LRDE. This route will serve the inner areas mentioned to reach either end efficiently & also connect people from Old Airport road & Byappanahalli-OMR to these areas.

Map-3 shows a possible track for Route-3 via HAL factory, HAL hospital, BEML gate, Malleshpalya, Vignannagar, Kaggadasapura, CV Raman Nagar, DRDO & BTP /LRDE. This route will serve the inner areas mentioned as also areas along Suranjandas road & connect BTP /LRDE & CV Raman Nagar. Though this route is somewhat roundabout, the benefits are connectivity for people directly from Old Airport road & OMR /Byappanahalli to most of the internal areas in one single circuit as also provide a service for commuters from Suranjandas road to these areas.

The existing destination-oriented route to LBS Nagar from Old Airport road is an exception here & will have to continue with the existing frequencies as there are no proper roads to run services past it & connect with the other routes.

Additional services past BTP /LRDE up to CV Raman Nagar bus station can continue to operate with larger buses as loads may be high, but dedicated BPT /LRDE services can be reduced since all these new routes pass through them.

Benefits

1. All the inner areas will become connected more frequently with fewer buses. Utilization & ridership on Big-10s on OMR & Old Airport road will improve as a result.
2. Exclusive services to the various scattered small bus terminuses (except for LBS Nagar) can be done away with since these routes will cover all of them.
3. The various bus terminuses can be utilized as formal bus stops & for other useful public services & parking of buses at night.
4. Old Airport road (near HAL Police Station) will be connected very well with Old Madras road (Byappanahalli) & enable commuters to move much more easily between these two important transfer points. This will prove very useful in the future when the Metro becomes operational (Separate, direct services to Byappanahalli from Old Airport Road along Suranjandas road may also be necessary at that time).
5. Even if only three buses are assigned for each route & if trip lengths are assumed to be approximately 30-35 minutes, the frequency will approximately be once each thirty minutes – much better than the 1.5 hours or so presently. If four buses are assigned per route, the frequency will improve further to about a bus each 20 minutes.
6. Since bus routes overlap with one another along some main roads within the area, frequencies will be higher on these main roads & will benefit commuters greatly.

[PS: Update, Mar 27 morning, Have added maps]