Caroline B., 32, was a regular BMTC commuter for more than a year, travelling between Hebbal and Marathahalli. However, she eventually gave it up because every commute ended the same way — with a 700-metre walk on the road, with no continuous footpath. 

To reach the other side, she said she had to walk along the edge of the carriageway, and at times between moving vehicles, until she found a gap in the traffic to cross. 

“I had given up; I was worn out by unsafe pedestrian crossings, especially at the Marathahalli multiplex junction. I switched from the free bus service to driving because every day it felt like a race against time to cross between all kinds of vehicles,” she said. “Until people can safely walk to a bus stop or a Metro station, the promise of a walkable, public transport-friendly city will remain out of reach,” she added. 

A walk by The Hindu across several parts of Bengaluru found that the biggest gap in the city’s pedestrian infrastructure is not just broken footpaths but missing ones. Around bus stops, metro stations, and high-footfall areas, pedestrians were repeatedly forced onto the carriageway because footpaths did not exist. 

This stands in contrast to the recent Supreme Court judgment, which recognised the right to walk on safe, accessible and unobstructed footpaths as a fundamental right. Observing that pedestrians are among the most vulnerable road users, the apex court directed governments and local authorities to ensure the provision and maintenance of safe pedestrian infrastructure.

While commuters like Caroline chose to abandon public transport altogether, others like 59-year-old Giridhar Kumar continue to depend on BMTC despite the daily struggle after getting off the bus. 

“The new buses are elder-friendly. They have low floors and ramps. But after getting down, there is no pavement on most roads. We are immediately on the road. At junctions, buses and other vehicles come from every direction. Everyone keeps honking, and it becomes confusing and frightening, especially for older people,” Mr. Kumar said. 

Even around colleges with good public transport connectivity, students said they preferred booking “bike taxis” over walking to the bus stop or Metro station. 

Students from two institutes in Koramangala and another one on Lalbagh Main Road, where BMTC buses are frequent, said it takes a lot of time to walk the last few hundred metres to the bus stops owing to the lack of pedestrian infrastructure. With no footpaths on several stretches, or pavements blocked by trenches and other obstacles, many said they felt safer paying for a bike ride that dropped them at the exact location than walking alongside traffic.

GBA officials acknowledged that some of the city’s busiest public transport corridors continue to have long stretches without footpaths despite witnessing heavy pedestrian movement every day.  They pointed to junctions such as Hebbal, Silk Board, Goraguntepalya, Jalahalli, and parts of the Outer Ring Road, where thousands of commuters get off buses or Metro services but have no “continuous” pavement to walk. 

The gaps, officials said, are the result of road and utility projects being taken up over the years by multiple agencies with little coordination, leaving pedestrian infrastructure incomplete even in high-footfall areas.

However, the missing footpaths, experts say, are the result of the way cities have traditionally been planned. 

Pawan Mulukutla, executive director, World Resources Institute (WRI) India, said Bengaluru’s pedestrian infrastructure reflects a larger “mindset issue” in urban planning.  

He added that when streets and road networks were planned, the focus was on moving vehicles, not people. The regard for pedestrians is only about two decades old.  

“Institutionally, we need a mindset change. Most of the people designing our roads are engineers trained to build roads for vehicles. We also need urban designers, transport planners and people with public policy backgrounds to bring a pedestrian perspective into planning,” he said. “This is why gaps are seen at places with the highest pedestrian movement. If we don’t understand that people are at the centre of infrastructure, we will continue to miss footpaths where they are needed the most,” he added.  

However, recognising the need, the maiden budgets of the five GBA corporations have proposed developing new footpaths, with priority to be given to roads around Metro stations, bus stands and underpasses to improve last-mile connectivity, a GBA official said.  

(This is the third in a series in which The Hindu looks at what ails Bengaluru’s footpaths, the problems faced by the various stakeholders, and what civic agencies are doing to make them safer)

Published - July 07, 2026 07:32 pm IST