Namma Metro: 37 BMTC Feeder Buses To Connect KR Puram Station And Outer Ring Road

In an effort to improve the last-mile connectivity in Bengaluru, a fleet of 37 BMTC (Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation) feeder buses was introduced on Wednesday. These buses are now available from the KR Puram metro station on the recently fully operational Purple Line. The inaugural day saw top tech professionals, CEOs, and co-founders embracing this new feeder bus service, hailing it as a crucial addition to Bengaluru's public transportation network.

These feeder buses will ply from the KR Puram metro station, connecting to the Outer Ring Road and extending all the way to Silk Board, an area plagued by heavy traffic, and home to numerous IT parks. The bus schedule has been designed to cater to both peak and non-peak hours. During peak hours, these feeder buses will run every five minutes, and during off-peak times, they will be available every eight minutes.

Karnataka's Transport Minister, Ramalinga Reddy, expressed the government's commitment to decongesting the Outer Ring Road area in Bengaluru. He stated, "In the next six months, BMTC [Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation] plans to implement several significant and unprecedented changes. The government is also in the process of procuring an additional 2,000 buses to enhance public transport in Bengaluru. We urge people working in East Bengaluru to opt for public transport for their daily commute."

The recent launch of the Purple Line metro operations in Bengaluru, which commenced on Monday, has significantly increased Namma Metro's ridership in the city. These new metro extensions are expected to be lifelines for IT professionals working in areas such as ITPL, Hoodi, and Whitefield, which house several IT parks.

According to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), on Monday, Namma Metro recorded a total of 6,80,894 passengers, with 61,179 riders on the Baiyappanahalli-Whitefield stretch of the Purple Line, which recently opened. Prior to the inauguration of the Baiyappanahalli-KR Puram line, the daily ridership between KR Puram and Whitefield averaged 28,000, and this figure saw an impressive spike of over 100% following the inauguration of the new line.