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Bengaluru’s Pod Taxi Plan Gains Steam, But At The Cost Of A Metro Line
The ULTra Pod Taxi system at the Heathrow International Airport, London (Skybum/Wikimedia Commons)
Bengaluru’s much talked about Pod Taxi project is back in the news again with the Bruhath Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) looking to scrap a Metro line proposed in the third phase of the Namma Metro project in favour of the personal rapid transit (PRT) system reports Deccan Herald.The PRT project has been chosen to provide what BBMP terms is “last-mile connectivity without carbon emission”.
Five stretches had earlier been identified but the BBMP has now chosen the stretch from Trinity Circle on Mahatma Gandhi Road (where it will meet the Trinity metro station on the Purple Line) to Hope Farm in Whitefield where it will meet the extension of the Purple Line that is currently under construction. It will pass through localities such as Domlur and Marathahalli on Old Airport Road where a metro line connecting Marathahalli to Hosakerehalli in the western end of the city was proposed.
A senior BBMP official said that the corporation would not invest any money of its own but would only provide the Right of Way (RoW) while the private player will build and operate it for a pre-determined amount of time.
In November last year, the BBMP and then Siddaramaiah government had invited tenders for the project, with a company named Smart Personal Rapid Transit Systems being the only bidder. Among the promoters in the company was K J George, then Minister for Bengaluru Development and Planning.
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