Bangalore gets its metro

Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath and Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi will flag off the train in the presence of Karnataka Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda at the inaugural function in the city.

The first stretch- seven kilometres- of the IT city's metro project was inaugurated this morning. It took a little over four years to link Mahatma Gandhi Rd and Byapanahalli.
Still to come for the city notorious for its traffic jams: another 35 kilometres of metro connectivity, with nine kilometres running underground. The entire project is budgeted at 11,600 crores, and is expected to be ready by the end of 2013.
For now, the elevated trains that link the city centre to eastern suburbs will run from 6am to 11pm. Trains are scheduled every ten minutes in peak hours.

A commuter takes a picture while riding on the metro.
Passengers and police ride in the metro.
Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath and Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi flagged off the first train at the Mahatma Gandhi Road station. Karnataka Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda was present as were senior BJP leaders Ananth Kumar and Arun Jaitley.

Metro being flagged off.
Security at the entrance.
The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) are also jointly introducing common day passes that can be used both in metro and BMTC buses.

According to a BMTC release, the Metro Bus Transit Day Pass for commuting in the metro and BMTC non-air-conditioned buses is priced at Rs. 70. The Metro Bus Transit Day Pass for using the metro and all BMTC services except Vayu Vajra costs Rs. 110.