BMTC Bus Guide for HSR Layout

Last updated: 29th July 2009.
Here's a list of all bus routes I know of from within HSR Layout. There are many more bus routes that pass through Agara and along the ring road adjoining HSR Layout. You can use the airport Volvo buses to travel within city limits (up to Hebbal) at normal Volvo fares.

Note on bus route diversions due to flyover construction at Agara:
Many bus routes have been diverted since 25/7/2009 due to the flyover construction at Agara.

340 series buses departing from Parangipalya now follow this route:
Parangipalya, NIFT, CPWD Quarters, 19th main, HSR depot/Mantri Sarovar, HSR BDA signal, Jakkasandra, Koramangala last stop. These buses do not touch Agara now. The route towards Parangipalya is similar.

500, 341, 342 series and Big-10-3/G-3 buses coming from Sarjapur road now enter HSR layout via 27th main, turn right at CPWD Quarters/Food days junction, right again at 19th main, join ring road again near HSR depot/Mantri Sarovar and continue on their usual routes from there.

These buses go via their usual routes in the other direction (towards Iblur/Sarjapur road via Agara) without entering HSR layout.

While the flyover work is on, you can get these buses at the CPWD Quarters/Fooddays junction.

Bus Routes
340A/M: From Parangipalya (HSR sector 2), NIFT, CPWD Quarters, 19th main, HSR Depot, Police Station, Agara, Koramangala last stop, St. John's/Forum (Staples side), Dairy Circle/Christ College, Lakkasandra, Wilson Garden, ShantiNagar/Double Road, Richmong Circle (below flyover), Corporation, Majestic. Very frequent. One at least every 15 minutes during peak hours.
Update: I have seen a couple of volvo buses on the 340A route in the mornings, one starting at about 7 am from Parangipalya and another heading there at about 7:45 am.

Update: If you are near Mantri Sarovar or HSR BDA complex, there are many Volvos starting out from HSR depot in the mornings (between 7 and 8) to Majestic. They leave the depot near Mantri Sarovar, head to BDA complex signal via ring road, turn right there and go towards Koramangala last stop and St. John's. These buses return to the depot in the evenings with the Depot-25 sign on them. I've been getting one with the 360B route number at 7:20 am at the BDA signal.

340F: Same route as 340A/M till double road. Morning trips go to Mysore bank and Vidhan Soudha. Other trips go via Richmond bus stop (near Cash pharmacy on residency road), Ashirvadam junction, SBI, Anil Kumble Circle, ShivajiNagar. Decent frequency.

340C: Same route as 340A/M till Lakkasandra. Goes towards ISRO Layout via Ashoka pillar, Jayanagar. Low frequency.

340: Goes to K R Market. Same route as 340A/F till Lakkasandra. Goes straight towards K R Market after that. Rarely seen these days.

340K: Starts from SomasundaraPalya, comes to Parangipalya and goes to K R Market following the same route as 340. Low frequency.

348F: Starts from Agara depot, comes via CPWD Quarters, NIFT to Parangipalya, towards HSR BDA complex, joins ring road at BDA junction, silk board, Madivala and continues on the same route as 340A/M. Sometimes starts from Parangipalya (HSR 2nd sector). Seen every half an hour in the mornings. There's a regular one at 8:20 am from CPWD quarters. Generally faster at getting to Majestic than 340A/M from ParangiPalya.

There are other 348 series routes that start from MangammanaPalya (near Salarpuria apartments in HSR Sector 7?). These buses go via HSR 5th Main to ring road, silk board, Hosur road, Madivala, Dairy circle, Lakkasandra and on to Majestic via same route as 340 A/M.

340S: Starts from Parangipalya. Same route as 340A/M till St. Johns. Goes towards Adugodi on Hosur road via Forum (Raheja Arcade side), Adugodi, Langford road junction (Prestige Elgin), Johnson Market, Vellara junction, St. Patrick's Church, SBI, Bowring Institute/St. Mark's Road, Anil Kumble Circle/MG Road, ShivajiNagar. Good route, but only one bus. Starts at 7:20 am, 8:20 am and 9:00 am in from Parangipalya.

141K: CPWD quarters to ShivajiNagar via Agara, Jakkasandra, Koramangala last stop, Sony World Junction, National Games Village, Ejipura junction/VivekNagar, Austin Town, Vellara Junction, ShivajiNagar. Rarely seen. I think there's one trip in the mornings at around 8:30 am and another in the evening.

Volvo 340P: Discontinued, but seems to have resurfaced as 340T with slight changes in the route.

Volvo 340T: Scant details at the moment. CPWD Quarters (haven't seen this at Parangipalya) to Basaveshwaranagar via HSR BDA signal, ring road, Silk Board junction, BTM, Jayanagar 4th block. I've seen this at 8:25 am and at 7:10 pm leaving CPWD quarters. Others have also reported about this in the comments (there's one leaving at 4:30 pm too it seems). Thank you Karun and others for the updates.

Volvo 340A: Seen occasionally. Follows the same route as 340A/M. Not sure if this is a regular service yet. I'll update with more information if I can get to talk to the driver/conductor.

Volvo BIAS-7: HSR BDA complex, Jakkasandra, Koramangala last stop (1st block), Madivala Market, Forum/Checkpost (Staples side), Dairy cirle/Christ College, Lakkasandra, Wilson Garden, ShantiNagar Bus Station/Double Road, Richmond Bus Stop/Cash Pharmacy, M G Road and on to Bangalore Airport via Hebbal. Hourly service. Usually starts at XX:15 (6:15, 7:15, 8:15 and so on) from HSR.

Volvo BIAS-7A: This is the route I'm using these days to get to my office on Ulsoor road. HSR BDA complex, Jakkasandra, Koramangala last stop (1st block), right via Wipro to Sony World Junction, right towards Domlur via Koramangala inner ring road, left at Domlur to join old airport road, Command Hospital, Trinity Circle, Taj Hotel, Ulsoor Road and on Bangalore Airport via Hebbal. Hourly service. Usually starts at XX:45 (6:45, 7:45, 8:45 and so on) from HSR. Update: BMTC finally has this route listed in the BIAS services page. (Check the blog sidebar for the link.)

BIAS Volvo typical fares: Rs. 150 to the airport from HSR. Rs. 30 to M G Road from HSR.

Depot-25: In the afternoons and evenings you might see some buses with boards displaying "Depot-25" or "Agara Depot". These buses terminate at Agara and go on to the BMTC bus depot near Mantri Sarovar apartments. Looks like some Kendra Sarige Volvo buses start/terminate at this depot. I have occassionally seen these Volvos with 340A boards in the evenings.

CPWD Qaurters: There are some services from/to CPWD quarters without route numbers. Usually seen in the mornings and evenings. These go to Vidhan Soudha and roughly follow the route taken by 340F in the mornings.

Other options from Agara and Ring Road
See note at top about how these routes now pass through HSR 27th main (in one direction) due to traffic diversions at Agara.

342 series (Market/Majestic/ShivajiNagar to Sarjapur and surroundings), 341 series (Market/Majestic/ShivajiNagar to Bellandur, Haralur and surroundings) touch Agara. These go via Jakkasandra, Koramangala last stop, Madivala checkpost, Dairy circle/Christ College.

Volvo 500N: Comes from Vijayanagar via Dairy circle, Forum (Staples side), St. John's, Koramangala last stop (1st block), Jakkasandra, Agara and heads to ITPL via ring road.

500 series ply on the ring road and are available from various bus stops adjoining HSR Layout (Silk board, BDA junction, Agara). There are Volvo buses on these routes (500 A and 500 D: Banadshankari/Silk board to Hebbal), 500K, C, L (Vijaynagar, Silk board to ITPL via ring road).

BIAS 8: Electronics City to Bangalore Airport via Silk board, Agara, Marathahalli, K R Puram railway station, Ramamurthy Nagar junction to Hebbal and airport.

BIG-10-3 or G-3: There's a BIG-10 route between Dommasandra (Sarjapur Road) and Bridade Road that passes through Agara. Details here on the BMTC site: http://www.bmtcinfo.com/english/big_10_3.html . The route is not listed on the BMTC site: Dommasandra, Kaikondanahalli, Spring Fields Apartments, Iblur, Agara, Jakkasandra, Koramangala last stop, right turn towards Sony World signal, straight to Koramangala depot, National Games Village, Passport Office, 80 ft peripheral road, Lower Agaram Road/Vivek Nagar, right turn to Victoria Road, left to Trinity Church road, Trinity Circle, MG Road, Mayo Hall. These buses start from Mayo hall (near ICICI bank) in the reverse direction. This route is pretty good except for the congestion near Sony World. The last bus from Mayo Hall going all the way to Sarjapur is at around 6pm. There are a few trips after that till Koramangala depot.

Here's how to get to some locations from HSR
Majestic/Double Road: 340A/M, 348F - direct route. 340F: Go up to double road and change to any Majestic bus. 340/340K/340C: Go up to Lakkasandra and change to any Majestic bus.

Market, Lalbaugh, Kalasipalya: 340/340K go direct. Otherwise, any bus to Agara. Plenty of buses from Bellandur/Sarjapur road (341, 342 series) that go to Market. You can also go up to Lakkasandra and change from there. Don't wait for the direct bus to these place since they are rare.

ShivajiNagar, St. Mark's road, Richmond, Residency Road, MG Road side: 340F/S are the direct routes (morning trip goes via Vidhan Soudha though). Don't wait specifically for these routes if you see a 340 A/M ready to go. Go up to Double Road on 340A/M and change to ShivajiNagar buses (13, 20, 27, 34, 210 etc.) from there. Another option is to switch at Madivala to the Big-10 bus from Electronics city that goes to St. Patrick's Church (near Brigade road).

Mayo hall, Manipal Center, Taj hotel/Lido: Go up to Richmond bus stop (just after the double road flyover) and change to bus numbers between 304 and 319.

Domlur/Inner ring road/Indiranagar side: BIAS-7A goes to Domlur. Another option is to take any 340 series bus to Madivala/Koramangala water tank and change to 201 series from there. Yet another option is to change to 171 series from Koramangala last stop and change again to 201 series at Sukh Sagar/Sony World.

ITPL/Ring road towards Marathahalli: Get to Agara and change to 500 series buses from there.

Sarjapur road/Wipro corporate office: 342 series from Agara.

Electronics-city/Bommanahalli: Get to Agara and use 500 series to get to silk board. Walk on to hosur road and get 356, 360 series from there. BIAS-8 and 505 passing via Agara go directly.

BTM/Jayanagar/Mysore road side: Change to 500 series from Agara. Many of them go up to Banashankari bus station passing through BTM, Jayadeva. 340 P passes through BTM and Jayanagar 4th block.

Getting to HSR
When you need to get to HSR layout, the best approach is to first get to changeover bus stops like St. John's or Agara to increase your chances of getting a bus that goes inside HSR layout. All 340 series buses to HSR pass through St. John's, so it's a good changeover point. Route numbers between 340 and 362 go pass through St. John's. All routes from 340 to 342 from St. John's pass through Agara. There are also some buses to Sarjapur that start from St. John's. Big-10-1 from Brigade road touches St. John's.

201 series that you get from Domlur or Trinity Circle go through the Koramangala Water tank bus stop from where you can get 340/A/C/F/M/K/S.

For example, if you are in ShivajiNagar bus station and don't see 340F or 340S there don't wait for them. Get on to a route like 362C or 342 to get to St. John's or Agara. If you don't find any routes between 340 and 362 there, use 13, 20, 34, 37 or 365 series to ShantiNagar/Double road from where you'll get plenty of buses (340 to 360) that will go to St. John's. At St. John's you'll get any of 340/A/C/F/M/K/S to HSR.

Changing multiple buses like this often gets you home faster when compared to waiting for a direct bus (using direction based routes instead of specific destination based routes). Having a daily pass is very convenient if you need to switch between multiple buses. Daily passes cost Rs. 30 and can be used on any BMTC bus expect the Volvo services. BIG-10 buses also accept daily passes.

I'll update this with maps when I find the time.

BIAL Bus Fares Lowered for City Commuters

BMTC's BIAL services had a flat fare structure (Rs. 100 minimum on the BIAS Volvos), making it unviable for city commuters. I've often seen BIAS-7 (towards Koramangala) pass by empty while I waited on double road in the evenings. BMTC has changed the fare structure today, probably prompted by the 5 lakhs in losses they were accumulating every day on the airport schedules. I wonder why it took them so long to figure this out.

You now pay regular Volvo fares if you are using these buses within the city (up to Hebbal). The higher, flat fare structure only applies to airport commuters.

Here's a link to the BIAS routes: http://www.bmtcinfo.com/english/bial.html. I'm looking forward to using BIAS-7 from today.

The Last Lecture

Yesterday, I read the transcripts of a very inspiring speech by Dr. Randy Pausch known as "The Last Lecture" . Inspirational stuff. Definitely watching the lecture video at home this weekend.

32

A 5 bit counter won't do now and I'm nowhere close to a retired planter's life in Coorg. Sigh ...

LOLCODE

Here's one programming language that you won't find in many resumes: LOLCODE. More on the LOLCODE home page.

Sample code:

HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
PLZ OPEN FILE "LOLCATS.TXT"?
    AWSUM THX
        VISIBLE FILE
    O NOES
        INVISIBLE "ERROR!"
KTHXBYE

For the non-geeks, there's a project to translate the Bible to lolcat slang. Any guesses on who the Ceiling Cat is? That site has a guide to speaking lolcat. The next time I get one of those e-mails written in txtspeak (E.g. "cn we mt now? rgds, xxxx") I'll reply in lolcat. Srsly!

Zzzz....

Some interesting links I followed from the LifeHacker blog today:

• Lucid dreaming. I'll control the script now. The next time there's a crazy cow after me, I'm going to whip out a bazooka, or grow horns and counter-attack. And no more hiding behind the podium when making a presentation to a packed hall. I'll materialize size 34 pants from thin air :)


• Waking up without an alarm clock. This is something I have been doing for a while now. I've got into a rhythm for the working days. What amazes me however is that when I need to wake up much earlier on some days I wake up before alarm rings.

My Best Macro Shots of 2007

Here's a showcase of my best macro shots from last year. Used a Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro lens on an EOS 350D for all of them. I couldn't have got any of these shots without the external flash that I used to light the subject. I had the Tamron lens with me for quite a while before I got satisfying pictures with it. Without the extra light from the flash, I couldn't stop down the lens to f/11 or f/16 to get the depth field required to keep the interesting elements in focus. If you are getting into macro photography (especially moving subjects like insects), you should learn about off camera flash photography. The Strobist Blog is one of the best resources on the net for that.




The biggest difficulty was finding someone to hold the light for me, or in some cases shooting single handed. That involved manual focussing by moving the camera since I would be holding the flash with the other hand. I have since got a flash bracket with a flexible arm to take care of the flash, but my priorities have changed. Now I don't get any time to chase bugs between the nappy changes :)

Online Photo Printing

I got a couple of albums printed online at G K Vale. At Rs. 3 for a 6" x 4" print it is a sweet deal. I haven't found any studio willing to print below 4.50. Strangely, G K Vale charges Rs. 5 per print if you visit any of their studios.

Also found a couple of nice places for books. There's Blossom Book House on Church Street near Amoeba. Three floors of new and used books at discounted prices. Premier book shop (near Night Watchman at the beginning of Church Street) sells new books at a discount. It's a tiny shop stacked haphazardly but the guys there can locate any book for you in no time. L-Space in DiscWorld must have been inspired by similar bookstores. Landmark, Crossword and Gangarams can kiss my wallet goodbye.

That Warm Feeling

Papa Kamath on fatherhood:

When I hold him, I get that warm feeling ...
and I know he has done it again.

UN Flag, Flat Earth, Discworld

What does the United Nations flag have to do with a flat Earth theory? Lots apparently. Take a look at the Flat Earth Society Forum's FAQ. Yes, there are people who hold on to that belief. The UN logo closely resembles the map of the Earth proposed by the society and it is also used as evidence of a conspiracy to cover up the truth.

I stumbled upon the site when I was looking up DiscWorld on the Net. I just finished my first Disworld novel (Thud!) and I'm hooked. Explore the portal on Wikipedia to get a taste of what the books are about.

Worst Headline Pun

The days of straightforward news headlines are over. The newsrooms seem to be where punsters congregate these days. Just when headlines that cleverly played on Sonia (so near) or Khan (can) seemed tolerable, Bangalore Mirror heralded Dhoni's team's victory over Pak screaming, "Doni-T-20". I want to nominate the reporter/editor behind this front-page atrocity for this year's Punitzer prize.

Bison Wells, Off Kodai

(This writeup that has been in my drafts folder for close to two years now.)

Located about 30 km from Kodaikanal is one of the best getaways I have been to. I went there on my honeymoon in May 2005. We reached Kodai after a lovely drive from Munnar. After lunch at Kodai, we met George who owns the place. The road to Bison Wells is not motorable unless you have a 4 wheel drive with massive ground clearance. We had to leave our car at a garage that George had arranged. The drive to the cottage in George's '64 vintage Nissan truck was an experience in itself. It took a little more than an hour to reach the place. We were accompanied by our cook for the next two days, Antony. George had planned the menu after taking our preferences in advance. Bison Wells is not the place where you can get any provisions if there are last minute changes.

After we reached the cottage and settled in, George and Antony left us to ourselves till dinner. The cottage is basic, built from mud and wood. It faces a valley in front and it's surrounded by a pine forest. It can accomodate two. There's an attached bath, without running water. Water is filled up in a drum from a well nearby. There'e no television, A/C, fan or lights in the room since there's no electricity either. It's as basic as it can get. And that is the charm of the place. You will be cut off from civilization for your stay at Bison Wells. Thankfully, your cook will be a call away in another hut nearby.

On the first day we took a walk to a lake downhill. Other than a truck that passed by, there was absolutely no one in sight. There was a settlement some distance away from the lake. After spending the evening at the lake-side, we were back for dinner by seven. In a place this basic we didn't carry much expectations about the food. But here came the surprise. It was a candlelight dinner in the cottage. The fried rice and curry was heavenly and so was the red wine.

At the camp, you can sit in the lounge and catch up with your reading. You'll hear no sounds other than bird calls or squeaks of the Malabar squirrel. You can also trek around the place. George can arrange a guide if required. If you are lucky you will spot bisons on the trek. We went for a moderate trek. The views were very good. We didn't spot any bisons though despite George's efforts. The place is safe for short unguided treks as well. After 7 or so in the evening, you have to tuck yourself into bed. It was very cold when we went there in May.

For all this, you will be surprised by the tarrifs. Rs. 1500 per night inclusive of all meals for a couple. The jeep ride to the place is expensive though. A two way trip to Bison Wells from Kodai will set you back by Rs. 1600 at least.

Here's the web-site if you are planning a trip:
http://www.wilderness-explorer.in/index.htm
http://www.wilderness-explorer.in/thouse.htm
http://www.wilderness-explorer.in/tcost.htm

Some photos I clicked during our stay there: http://www.flickr.com/photos/binux/sets/321758/

Project/Issue Tracking with Trac

I saw Trac being used by some projects recently. Decided to give it a try today for tracking a small prototyping project that I'm working on. It didn't take more than half an hour to get it running and it does its job without getting in the way. If you are looking for a bug tracker that's easy to set up and use, give it a try. It has an integrated wiki and source browsing tools (if you are using svn). I set it up to use SQLite and to run as a standalone server, which is the simplest way to get it running for a small project.

Picture Window Pro

The post processing I do on my photos is limited to sharpening, saturation and simple contrast adjustments in Picasa. I was looking for software that gave a little more control (curves adjustments and unsharp mask for example). Photoshop is the popular choice, but the pricing (600$) is beyond reach. I used GIMP (on Linux) for a while, but its speed is frustrating. It was then I came across Picture Window Pro. Costs 90$ and the download size is a mere 5MB (300MB for the Photoshop trial). It does almost everything that Photoshop does (at least whatever you'd want for post processing photos). Head to IMAGEs by DEN to see what it's capable of. Check the before and after comparisons by moving the mouse over the images on that page. It not only convinced me about Picture Window Pro but also about the importance of post-processing.

Picture Window Pro runs smoothly in Linux with Wine. I ran the installer with the default Wine settings. I only had to copy gdiplus.dll from my windows partition to my fake windows directory to run it. It's much faster than GIMP and more stable than the Linux version of Picasa. I'll be trying it for a month before deciding whether it's worth buying.

Oh, and do checkout some stunning night photography at Cambridge in Colour.

Happyness

I didn't realize until Preethi pointed it out that The Pursuit of Happyness was based on a true story. Beautiful film. Don't want to ruin it for you if you haven't watched the film already, but if you already have, here's the Wikipedia page on Chris Gardner.. The real Chris Gardner makes a cameo appearance at the end of the movie.