BMTC plans to extend services till 1 am

Following the extension of nightlife deadlines and yielding to the demand for extension of bus services till late in the night, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is planning to operate buses till 1 am in the coming weeks.

A senior official of BMTC has said that the corporation is planning to extend the late night services from Kempegowda Bus Station to Kadugodi, Anekal, Attibele, JP Nagar, BTM Layout, KR Puram, Yelahanka Satellite station, Peenya, Yeshwantpur, Kengeri, Jigani, Hoskote and other places.

There are already 62 buses catering to these areas and recently, 10 more buses were added to the late night services, which is running till 11 pm as of now. BMTC is charging one-and-half times the bus fare for those buses catering to service after 10 pm.

The official said, though the public commute till 1 am in areas like Majestic, Railway Station and Shivajinagar, there are no BMTC bus services. People arriving in the city late in the night and those returning home from offices are deprived of BMTC bus facilities and are forced to either travel by autorickshaws or cabs, the official added.

There was a petition filed with Change.org wherein more than 98% of the 15,000 people who signed the petition voted for BMTC services to be run till 1 am.

Recently, BMTC introduced night buses to certain areas — the last bus from Majestic to Chikkbanawara is at 11 pm, KR Market to Jalahalli Cross at 10.40 pm, Shivajinagar to Yelahanka at 10.20 pm, Yelahanka to Kengeri at 8.25 pm, Hebbal to Satellite Bus station at 9.15 pm, Jalahalli cross to Bommanahalli at 10.15 pm, Hebbal to KR Puram at 10.20 pm, Majestic to Nelamangala at 9.20 pm and Central Silk Board to Nelamangala at 8.15 pm.