With rain sinking roads in Bengaluru, techies cram into BMTC buses

Once the lifeline of IT employees commuting to Outer Ring Road (ORR), BMTC buses had lost out to cab aggregators in the recent years.

However, as overnight rains dumped gallons of water on city roads, techies crammed into buses on the route despite most of them, including the air-conditioned ones, crawling through the floods.

“Waterlogging delayed the operations,” said a senior BMTC official. “A trip that usually takes an hour took an additional 30 minutes on Monday. We still saw many employees waiting at the bus stops.”

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Officials said almost all of the 5,650 trips scheduled in the ORR route had good ridership. “We were prepared to deploy additional services but found no need for that. The existing schedule fulfilled the demand. If buses continue to be crowded, we will introduce new trips,” an official said.

Depots flooded

Flood water entered BMTC depots at Shantinagar and Dasanapura disrupting operations. “Buses were pulled out of the depots and were operated from a nearby point to ensure services were not disrupted. There were no damages to BMTC properties,” the official said.

To a question, officials said the floods have not affected electrical buses as yet. “Enough insulation measures were provided to avoid the vehicles getting caught in heavy floods. However, we will assess the situation and take steps to avoid problems in the operations,” another official said.