Articles by Siddharth S

After almost a 40 minutes run from Bangalore city, the train 16732 bound to Tuticorin comes to a halt. Half-asleep passengers peek out assuming the stop to be Hosur, as the train comes to a halt on platform 1 of the station just outside Bangalore limits. However it is not Hosur - welcome to Carmelram. An unassuming country side station, it is almost a let thorugh for Bangalore city trains - but for a major part of North Bangaloreans, this is an important station, especially for trains from Yeshvantapur as they do not have to waste time in traffic jams…

The increase in fares 15 days back was as usual a hole burner in starting stages - fare of Rs.8 has become rs.9 and fare of Rs.9 is now Rs.12/- but does BMTC really think they make money this way? Consider my own example here. Travelling from Marathahalli to J P Nagar 6th phase, I get direct bus in mornings - but in return I need to change over at the Marenhalli signal for last 2 kms for which the fare works out to be Rs.9/-. On an average of 3 working days, I generally walk down home for the…

About a month ago, I was waiting at the bus stop opposite Cubbon Park to catch a bus home to JP Nagar. Since the frequency of buses to JP Nagar is low, I waited for a bus to Jayanagar from where I could change over. I avoided the 13 series buses that were terribly crowded. Within minutes came an empty bus with the board T4 (Nagavara to Jagajeevanram Nagar via Corporation). Seeing the name Corporation, I boarded the bus. I alighted in front of the BBMP office and walked down to Mission Road stop, where within minutes the ever frequent…

There was quite a news in all the papers regarding the new feeder routes launched by BMTC last month-but unknown to many, there were lot more unannounced routes that were too introduced. Some of the recently introduced routes are as follows:Volvo 500KG: Gottigere-JD Mara-Jayadeva-BTM-Agara-Marathahalli-ITPLVolvo 500DF: Hebbal-Kalyan Nagar-KR Puram-Hoodi-Vydehi Hospital-ITPLVolvo 600B: Byrasandra-Jayanagar(4th and 9th block)-BTM-silk board-Bommanhalli-Electronic city-Attibelle AC Marcopolo 343K: Majestic-Corporation-Jayanagar-BTM-Silk board-Begur Vishwapriya Layout410E: HSR Layout-Silk board-Banashankari-Kathriguppe-Nayandahalli-Vijayanagar-sunakdgatte-Jalahalli Cross340T: Agara-Silk Board-BTM-Jayanagar-South End-Corporation-Majestic364E (Reintroduced): Devarachikkanhalli-JP Nagar 3rd phase-East End-Jayanagar-Shantinagar-Shivajinagar-Mekhri Circle-Bhoopsandra366MA: Kaggalipura-Bannerghatta circle-Gottigere-J.P.Nagar 3rd phase-Jayanagar-South End- KR Market372H: Nisarga Layout-Bannerghatta circle-Gottigere-Jambusavari Dinne- Puutenhalli-JP Nagar 15th cross-Jayanagar TTMC500DA: Yelahanka-Hebbal-KR Puram-Marathahalli-Silk board-Bommanahalli-Electronic City Wipro500DC: Hebbal-KR Puram-Marathahalli-Silk…

There has been some issues regarding understanding BMTC routes, the main reason being too many routes in the system - Here is a gist of some common BMTC routes Kanakapura road: 211-217 going atleast upto Jaraganahalli/Yechanahalli (G-5 corporation to Kaggalipura) (215C,D,E,H,M,Y,CA via Jayanagar 4th block and J.P.Nagar 1st phase) Mysore Road: 218-234 going atleast upto Rajarajeshwari nagar gate(G-6 Shantinagar bus stand to Kengeri Satellite Town) (222D,M via Banashankari and Uttarahalli) Between Mysore road and Magadi road: 235-239 will go atleast to chandra layout via MCTC Magadi road: 240-249 series go atleast to Sunkadgatte(248 via Vijayanagar to sunkadgatte)(G-7 Majestic to Gollarahatti)…

While BMTC has started some good initiatives like introducing new routes and Bus Day, there was a huge blow to the corporation - rise in diesel rates by Rs 3 per litre. Immediately BMTC announced a bus fare increase - was this hike seriously necessary? Bus tickets. File pic. The diesel fares rose by Rs 3. An average BMTC bus gives about 4 km/litre and some new ones go up to  5 km/litre. That means an average increase of about 75 paise per kilometre. The number of passengers travelling in a bus averages 40-45, meaning there is absolutely just less…

A couple of weeks back, bored on a Sunday morning, I set off on small exploration trip. From JP Nagar 6th phase Nandini Hotel stop, I took a 215C to Jambusavari Dinne (JP Nagar 8th phase) -the ride took about 15 minutes for the 5 km stretch. As the bus stopped at Jambusavari Dinne, a bus on route No. 378 passed by with the LED board showing "Electronic City" with reasonable crowd. I enquired with someone standing nearby and learnt that bus had a good frequency. In about two minutes, I noticed another 378 came on opposite side, bound for…

BMTC Bangalore runs two types of ordinary services - the black board routes covering upto 15 kms (numbered 1 to 209) from city centre and the red board routes covering areas longer than 15 kms from city centre (numbered above 210). The bus passes cost more for red board buses than those for the black board buses. But in reality - the red board buses are at times cheaper and faster than their black board counterparts. Despite the longer distance, they have lesser stages. However boarding a red board bus might mean walking a few more yards to the appropriate…