Bengaluru: The Transport Department now wants the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to build a semi-automated travelator from Peenya Industry metro station to the Basaveshwara Bus Terminal to promote passenger traffic at the bus terminal.
The metro station and the bus terminal are 800 metres apart, but not integrated. A travelator is a moving walkway, typically used at airports.
Mahendra Jain, managing director, BMRCL, and Additional Chief Secretary of Urban Development Department, said they would take up a feasibility study of access points at the Peenya Industry station and the bus terminal to build the travelator. “We intend to build the travelator under the public-private partnership model, giving advertisement rights over the area for the investor,” he said. While the BBMP has built skywalks, if this materialises, it will be the first travelator in the city.
A stakeholder meeting on Thursday, chaired by Transport Minister H.M. Revanna, also proposed to build a metro station at the Peenya Metro Depot, just a few feet away from the bus terminal, and divert metro train services to the depot to service the bus terminal. BMRCL officials, however, expressed reservations over the proposal by raising concerns over the disruption in operations it will lead to.
