Overcrowded metro trains, surge cab prices, traffic snarls leave peak-hour commuters stranded in Bengaluru

Over two lakh RCB fans flood Bengaluru's CBD, causing chaos in traffic and public transport, leading to inconvenience.

More than two lakh people arriving on the streets of the central business district (CBD) to celebrate the victory of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) threw traffic and public transport out of gear, causing much inconvenience even to those who were not partking in the celebrations on Wednesday. 

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Officials said that 8.7 lakh people boarded metro until 9 p.m. on Wednesday.

While the Bengaluru traffic police (BTP) had imposed traffic restrictions and advised commuters to avoid the CBD areas, the major roads around the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium and Vidhana Soudha were choked. Residency Road, Richmond Road, Nrupatunga Road, Ulsoor Road after Trinity Circle and Raj Bhavan Road were chock-a-block during the evening peak hours.

Meanwhile, from the afternoon, those commuting by metro, especially on the Purple Line, struggled as the trains were overcrowded.

“I left Kengeri station at about 3.15 p.m., and the crowd was already huge. Then, by the time the train reached Vijayanagar, scores of people dressed in RCB jerseys boarded the train. They began chanting ‘RCB’ and ‘Ee sala cup namdu’, and by the time the train entered Majestic, there were more people than the train could contain, and the chanting got even louder. Exiting at the Cubbon Park station, near which my workplace is located, was a task. One elevator had even stopped working,” said Ramesh Kumar, a metro commuter.

As chaos continued to unfold near the stadium and Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) announced that the trains would not stop at B.R. Ambedkar Vidhana Soudha and Cubbon Park stations.