Over 14 years on, approaching the airport still a daunting task
The Hindu
In the absence of a robust mass transit system to the airport, air passengers are forced to rely on taxis or private modes of transport, making their way through traffic gridlocks and poor roads
Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) completed 14 years of operations on May 24, 2022. Over the years, the Bengaluru airport, which is located 35 km from the centre of the city, has made significant achievements in expanding its infrastructure, including operationalising a second runway and giving more comfort of travel to the passengers by way of introducing biometric, contactless travelling, and others. Once the T2 is fully functional, it will further boost passenger footfall.
However, one thing that has remained unchanged is the arduous task of travelling to the airport. Unfortunately, in the absence of a robust mass transit system to the airport, air passengers are forced to rely on taxis or private modes of transport manoeuvring through traffic gridlocks and poor roads.
Interestingly, even before the airport started commercial operations in 2007, the then government had proposed to build a high-speed rail link connecting M.G. Road with Devanahalli. However, in 2013, the project was nixed citing higher cost and non-feasibility, and instead, a metro line was favoured.
Meanwhile, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) upgraded the highway linking the airport from Hebbal to Trumpet. For more than a decade, people going to the airport have been paying a toll to use the road.
As the vehicle numbers in the city increased from 50.33 lakh to over 1 crore in the last decade, resulting in heavy congestion on the roads, travel time to reach the airport too has gone up. When it rains, there are many instances of Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) issuing advisory asking air passengers to “plan their travel” to reach the airport in advance.
Smitha V., an air passenger, said, “It is very unfortunate that authorities have failed to provide a mass transit system to the airport, which is one of the busiest in the country. There is a need to make travelling to the airport affordable and faster. Now, the metro is being constructed to link the airport. There is a need to expedite the project in the interest of the public.”
Ashish Verma, convenor of IISc Sustainable Transport Lab, said in 14 years, the airport has seen expansion in terms of adding infrastructure on the campus, but when it comes to the public transport system, there is no progress when passenger volume has increased drastically.