Save Our Sarjapur Road

“Fix the Commute”

Community Demands
Nov 2023

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Who are we?

SoS - Save our Sarjapura Road - “Fix the Traffic”.

We are a coalition of local volunteers from Bellandur Forum, Iblur
Environs Trust, Kasavanahalli Development Forum, Bangalore Apartment
Federation, and other resident groups who live and work around the
Sarjapura-Bellandur tech corridors.

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Our Problems
➢ Traffic jams - a daily default
○ Iblur junction has 15,000 Passenger Car Units / hour at peak time!
➢ Poor public transport
○ Not enough bus routes connecting Sarjapur Road to various parts of the city.
Existing routes have poor frequency, no AC buses. Metro work is yet to start.
○ No bus stops within 500 metres for most residents
➢ Pedestrians risk lives
○ No continuous, clean, smooth and safe footpaths. Roads are impossible to
cross. Fatal accidents increasing

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The Big Issue - Public Transport is Patchy
➢ ~7 Lakh people commuting to work from different parts of Bengaluru to the
IT Corridor of ORR-Bellandur
○ 75,000-1,00,000 of these IT staff live in and around Sarjapura Road - Harlur Road,
Kasavanahalli Road, Mori Gate, Kodathi Gate, Muthanallur Cross, Dommasandra, and
Sarjapura village all have large clusters of homes.
○ Survey shows half of them use their cars for commute!

➢ ORR between Iblur and Hebbal is well-served by air-conditioned BMTC

buses
○ Residents in and around Sarjapura Road have no access to good public transport –
poor/missing BMTC routes, low/undependable frequency

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Bring Quality Bus Services to Sarjapura Road
➢ A good public bus system between homes and ORR-IT Corridor – buses that are
comfortable, frequent, and predictable – will help us commute without stress, and
ease traffic on Sarjapura Road, and consequently on ORR.
Decongestion mission:
➢ Step 1: Ply BMTC buses between Sarjapura Police Station @Sarjapura Village and
Marathahalli
○ Air-conditioned (Vajra) buses
○ High frequency throughout the day - min 5 minutes frequency during peak hours (8- 11 AM,
4- 7 PM) and 10 minutes during off-peak
➢ Step 2: Deploy appropriate-sized shuttles (Mini buses) to ferry commuters from
areas off Sarjapura Road (these are narrow roads, with high density apartment
complexes)
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Availability of buses a problem?
• Frequency of buses plying on ORR currently is 1-2 minutes resulting in
• Lower occupancy, due to saturation effect
• Contribution to congestion
• Poor profitability vs deploying on alternate routes with high occupancy

• If BMTC does not have adequate spare buses to run on the proposed
Sarjapura Road corridor immediately, there is a scope to redirect some
buses from the ORR route to Sarjapura Road route

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Why this matters?
Impact on quality of life and health
- 30% say they avoid going out socially
- 28% experience stress, and road rage
Impact on economy
- 50% of commuting residents spend 1-2
hours on road every day, twice a day!
Crores of rupees of economic value lost

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We demand
1. Better bus services
2. Proper pedestrian facilities – walkable footpath, accessible bus stops, safe crossing

➔ Immediate ➔ 1 year ➔ 5 years

➔ More AC buses ➔ Electric mini buses for ➔ Metro on Sarjapur

➔ High frequency (< 5 last mile Road
min) of buses in peak ➔ Incentives for people ➔ Cycle lanes
to switch to public
hours ➔ Integrated road
transport
➔ Fix BMTC app ➔ Contiguous, infrastructure and last
problems accessible footpaths mile connectivity
➔ Mini buses for last and bus stops
mile in inner roads / ➔ Safe road crossing
Shuttle services
➔ Promote carpooling /
Permit cab pooling.
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APPENDIX
Survey Responses filled out by residents commuting to IT corridor from south-east
Bengaluru

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What residents say

“We are ready to take

buses if there is
higher frequency, and
easy access to bus
stops”

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Yes to Sustainable Commute Options

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Commute Start Time

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Commute Duration (Start Journey)

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Commute Return Time

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Commute Duration (End Journey)

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Human Impact of Current Commute

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Current Commute Mode

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Location of Start of Journey (Home)

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Location of End of Journey (Office, etc.)

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Thank You!

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