The foot-over bridge connecting the metro station with the bus
terminuses of BMTC, KSRTC at the Nadaprabhu Hiriya Kempegowda Metro
Station in Bengaluru’s Majestic was finally inaugurated on Thursday
after missing several deadlines.
More than two years after the metro's operation at Majestic began, the
ceremonial inauguration was attended by Karnataka Chief Minister HD
Kumaraswamy, as well as his deputy and Bengaluru Development Minister
G Parameshwara. Other political leaders present at the event included
local MLA and KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao, Bengaluru Central MP PC
Mohan, Mayor Gangambika Mallikarjun and Deputy Mayor Ramila
Umashankar, among others.
According to urban mobility experts, the long-overdue footbridge will
improve ridership in the metro and bus, while reducing the number of
vehicles on the road. Until now, commuters were forced to traverse a
garbage-filled subway or dodge busy traffic crossing the road. The
foot-over bridge connector will shorten the distance by 250 metres.
Although the bridge was said to be completed this past summer, the
inauguration was delayed.
The dignitaries also flagged off a second six-coach metro train on the
Purple Line. (As of now, all other metros running in the city have
three cars).
K'taka CM, Deputy CM and Mayor take a metro ride from Vidhan Soudha to Majestic to inaugurate FOB connecting Metro and bus terminus. pic.twitter.com/Mm9fTJNeuw
— Soumya Chatterjee (@Csoumya21) October 4, 2018
The metro has been operational at Majestic since April 2016. Later in
June 2017, it became an integration point for the Purple and Green
Line, but the construction for the footbridge connectors between the
different modes of public transport began only in January 2018.
Another footover bridge connecting the Majestic metro station with the
10th platform of the Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna Majestic Railway
Station is in its final stages of construction.
However, a similar issue prevails at Yeshwantpur Metro and Railway
Station, where commuters are forced to cross the road with high
medians to transfer between surface and metro railway.
Sanjeev Dhyamanavar, an urban mobility expert at Prajaa, said, “It is
good to see that finally the Majestic FOB is ready. But the issue in
Yeshwanthpur still needs to be looked into.”
Urban matter experts have previously pointed out that footbridges like
these should have been planned well in advance. They emphasised that
it wasn't just a matter of convenience, but safety as well.
Ashish Verma, an expert on sustainable transportation at the Indian
Institute of Science, had told TNM earlier, “It should have been there
right from the first day the station was built. Why are these things
done as an afterthought? This creates a huge problem for passengers
especially with luggage who are transferring between the two modes of
transport. For them, to cross the road has been a horrible task so
far. It is extremely necessary for the safety point of view. Most of
the metro stations have neglected the pedestrian dispersal system.
It's like 'Once you come out of the metro, you can go to hell'.
Without these you can actually lose a lot of people who will otherwise
use public transport.”