Bangalore Bus Tips for Non Bangaloreans

If you are new to Bangalore and you don't know to read Kannada initially you will find it a bit difficult to go around by bus because there are route numbers and bus boards will have only Kannada boards. It is a good idea to learn Kannada but it will take time. There are three important bus stations in Bangalore and you can see buses to these three places from most places in Bangalore.

• Majestic Bus Stand also known as Kempe Gowda Bus Station or KBS (ಕೆಂಪ ಗೌಡ ಬಸ್ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣ) - This is the major bus stand in Bangalore and you can get buses to most of the places around Bangalore from Majestic bus stand. ಕೆಂಪ ಗೌಡ ಬಸ್ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣ(Kempe Gowda Bus Nildana) means Kempe Gowda Bus Station and the bus board will also have the bus number. ಕೆಂಪ ಗೌಡ ಬಸ್ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣ is not very difficult to memorize if you observe the pattern. The first letter ka is similar to ta (ठ) in Hindi and the first letter of ನಿಲ್ದಾಣ is a slight variation of na (न) in Hindi. Keralites can easily recognize the la sound in niladana. If you are still not able to recognize ask for a bus to Majestic because I really doubt how many people know the actual name Kempe Gowda Bus Station.
  
  Majestic Hogutha ? (will it go to Majestic ) will work most of the time. If you lost your way there is an unwritten rule in Bangalore that then you should catch the next bus to Majestic :-). There is some logic in it because you will get a bus to almost any place in Bangalore from Majestic bus stand.
  
• K.R Market (ಕೆಆರ್ ಮಾರ್ಕಟ್) - K.R Market is the next major bus stand after Majestic and it is the major market place in Bangalore. The bus board will be written as ಕೆಆರ್ ಮಾರ್ಕಟ್ (K R MARKET). As mentioned earlier you should be able to recognize Ka easily and the last letter ttu (ಟ್) you can easily remember.
  
• Shivaji Nagar (ಶಿವಾಜಿ ನಗರ್) - The third important bus stand is Shivaji Nagar (ಶಿವಾಜಿ ನಗರ್). It is also very easy to remember if you observe the pattern. The first letter sha is a variant of श in Hindi.
  

Some more major destinations:

• Shanthi Nagar- ಶಾಂತಿ ನಗರ್
• Banashankari- ಬನಶಂಕರಿ
• Indira Nagar- ಇಂದಿರಾ ನಗರ್
• Marthahalli- ಮರ್ಥಹಳ್ಳಿ

I am also listing a few bus route numbers that may help:

• Attibele- Kempegowda Bus Station -360-B
• Electronics City- Kempegowda Bus Station -356-C
• Narayana Hrudayalaya- Kempegowda Bus Station -356-N
• Banashankari -Hebbal 500-A
• I T P L Banashankari 500-C
• Silk Board Hebbal 500-D
• Marathahalli -Kempegowda Bus Station -333-J
• I T P L -Kempegowda Bus Station -333-P
• Kadugodi -Nagarbhavi -333-T
• Kadugodi -Kempegowda Bus Station -335-E
• Bannerghatta National Park- Kempegowda Bus Station 365
• Kormangala- Kempegowda Bus Station 171

To find all the bus routes you can see the following links: http://www.mybmtc.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_bus_routes_in_Bangalore http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/1919-bengaluru-bmtc-bus-information http://www.narasimhadatta.info/bmtc_query.html