928 BMTC Buses Have Audio Announcement System To Aid Visually Impaired Persons: Karnataka High Court Told

Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) informed the Karnataka High Court on Friday (November 15) that an audio announcement system has been installed in 928 buses for the aid of physically challenged and visually impaired persons, to know the stops or the destinations.

A division bench of Chief Justice N V Anjaria and Justice K V Aravind accepted the statement made by the counsel for BMTC and disposed of a public interest litigation filed by N Shreyas, a visually impaired person, seeking restoration of audio announcement service in State and Corporation buses and Metro railways.

The bench disposed of the petition saying “Your (Petitioner) grievance has been satisfied, they have complied with the directions issued by the court”.

Shreyas had argued that initially transport modes such as KSRTC, BMTC buses as well as metro lines had the facility of audio announcements, helping the visually impaired persons to know the stops or the destinations. He claimed when he found the abrupt stoppage in this audio system, he shared his grievance with other visually impaired friends and volunteers and he discovered that his friends too were facing this difficulty.

“That he himself and his friends or other volunteers are not asking for special treatment but only a facilitation so as to reach their destination as it is a common knowledge that there will be heavy rush of commuters in this mode of transport,” the plea stated.

Shreyas had also informed the court that most of the time conductors of buses help the physically challenged or visually impaired persons but if the buses are over crowded they are unable to pay more attention to them and this leads to causing difficulty to physically challenged or visually impaired persons, to reach the destination.

Reference was also made to neighbouring states like Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, where the facility of audio announcement is functional in all major modes of transport i.e. metro line and city buses and state transport corporation buses.

It was also mentioned that private transport operators like OLA & Uber, the facility of Google maps is available with passenger and with driver of vehicles and with the coordination the passenger either seeks necessary information and exchanges it with driver or in case of difficulty seeks further assistance from driver and majority time such assistance is provided and there is smooth operation and functioning in assistance to passenger, visually impaired or physically challenged passengers.

Case Title: N Shreyas & ANR AND The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation & Others.

Case NO: WP 10744/2022

Citation No: 2024 LiveLaw (Kar) 470