BMTC Bus Guide for HSR Layout

Updates:

The route timing information on buses from/to HSR sector 2 may not be correct. I rarely use those routes now after switching to BIA-7A and G-2 for my commute to Trinity Circle.

Last updated: Oct 24, 2013.

Route Finders

Use any of these route finders to get up to date information on bus routes in Bangalore:

http://mybmtc.com/

http://www.narasimhadatta.info/bmtc_query.html
http://bmtcroutes.in/

Google Transit has BMTC routes in it now. Searching for directions in Google Maps give you pretty good BMTC route information. Also found http://bmtcroutes.in/. 

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 (sometime Rs 10 more than normal Volvo fares).

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.
Volvo/Marcopolo 340A: Seen occasionally. Follows the same route as 340A/M.

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. You may also find them using the "Silk Board (via HSR Layout)" or "Agara" boards.

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.

340C: Same route as 340A/M till Lakkasandra. Goes towards ISRO Layout via Ashoka pillar, Jayanagar. Low frequency. I don't know if this route still exists. Haven't seen it in a while.

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. Route 340 terminates at Agara sometimes. Always check if you want to go to sector 2 on this one.

340K: Starts from SomasundaraPalya, comes to Parangipalya and goes to K R Market following the same route as 340. Low frequency. There's one heading to HSR at about 6:50 pm via Agara.

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. These days I see this plying without a number (just a Vidhan Soudha board).

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.

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 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 (6:20, 7:20, 8:20 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, Dell, Embassy Golf Links, Hero Honda, left at Domlur to join old airport road, Command Hospital, Trinity Circle, Taj Hotel, Ulsoor Road, Indian Express/GPO, Palace Grounds and on Bangalore Airport via Hebbal. Hourly service. Usually starts on time at XX:40 or XX:50 (6:40 am, 7:40 am, 8:50 am, 9:50 am and so on) from HSR BDA complex. In the return direction, you can get BIA-7A from Trinity Circle at about 4:50 pm 6:00 pm and 7:00 pm. It's hard for them to stick to the schedule though and these buses sometimes get delayed by 15 to 20 minutes on the return trip. These buses pass inner ring road near Dell at around 5:10 pm, 6:15 pm and 7:15 pm in the evenings. Most of them will only stop at the bus stop next to Hero Motors near Dell.

BIAS Volvo typical fares: Rs. 205 to the airport from HSR. Rs. 50 to M G Road from HSR. Rs. 35 to Dell/EGL from HSR.

K-3: HSR BDA complex to Basaveshwaranagar via Koramangala, St. Johns, Dairy Circle, Jayanagar, Basavangudi and Vijayanagar.

K-5: HSR BDA complex to Mallasandra via Jakkasandra, Koramangala Sony World junction, Adugodi, Double road, Malleswaram and Jalahalli.

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.

Silk Board (Via HSR Layout): Commonly seen in the evenings along ring road (BTM, Jayadeva side). The board is misleading. They don't terminate at Silk Board. These buses terminate at the BMTC depot near Mantri Sarovar.

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

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. If you are heading to the airport, BIA-7 and BIA-7A reach faster since the ring road is as congested as the inner city areas these days.

BIAS 8A: terminates at BTM instead of Electronics City.

BIG-10-2 or G-2: There's a BIG-10 route between Sarjapur and Bridade Road/Mayo Hall that passes through Agara. Route details: Sarjapura, 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. These days, you can find G-2 running late into the night from Mayo hall (I have used it at around 9 pm).

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. BIAS 7 from BDA complex (till Double Road). 348 series from sector 6/7.

Market, Lalbaugh, Kalasipalya: 340/340K go direct. Otherwise use any bus to Agara and switch from there. There are [lenty 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 places 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 (G-3) that goes to St. Patrick's Church (near Brigade road).

Mayo hall, Manipal Center, Taj hotel/Lido: BIAS 7A goes to Trinity circle and gets there in about half an hour to 45 minutes. Other option is to go towards Double road, change to ShivajiNagar buses (13, 20, 34, 210) to Richmond bus stop (just after the double road flyover) and change to bus numbers between 304 and 319 to get to Lido mall.

Dell/EGL/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 (some 201 series buses turn left at Sony World, always check). 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/G-2 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.

Getting to HSRWhen you need to get to HSR layout, the best approach is to first get to major bus stops like St. John's or Agara that have many routes passing through them. This increases your chances of getting a bus that goes all the way to 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 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.

G-3 buses starting from Brigade road touch St. John's. These buses are very frequent in the evenings.

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.

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 at Shivajinagar, 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. 45 (Rs. 40 if you buy a BMTC identity card for Rs. 25) and can be used on any BMTC bus expect the Volvo services. BIG-10 buses also accept daily passes. Volvo buses have a daily pass available for Rs. 90. These passes can be used on all services except the BIA buses. Month pass charges range from about Rs 660 for ordinary buses to Rs. 1300 for Volvo buses.

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.