Esplanade bus terminus shift starts, boost for Purple Line

Kolkata: The bus stand at Esplanade has finally started being shifted, making way for the Purple Line metro station. The stand became operational on Thursday but a few buses are yet to use the terminus. The upcoming station will convert Esplanade into a metro hub, with three lines — Blue, Green and Purple — converging here. While the Blue and Green lines already have Esplanade stations, a 300m x 40m space at the old bus stand site will be used to set up the Purple Line station. The area temporarily allocated to the bus stand — behind the East-West Metro's Esplanade station at Curzon Park — covers 3,224 sq m. It looks swank, with a more organised layout and amenities, like waiting rooms, a food court, restrooms, shelters and AC booking counters. It is around 1,000 sq m roomier than the old bus stand.
TOI reported on Nov 20, 2024 that the L20 bus stand will shift to Curzon Park to make way for Purple Line's Esplanade station. However, the shift got delayed due to pending permissions."The decades-old ‘L 20' stand has shifted to Curzon Park and has been rechristened ‘Esplanade Bus Stand of State Govt Bus'. SBSTC, WBTC and NBSTC buses will be parked here. Some of the buses on the SBSTC fleet are yet to use the stand. They will be shifted in the next phase. Bhutan-bound buses will also leave from this stand," a state official said. There are three different restrooms for the respective services.All buses entering the stand will cross Mayo Road-Netaji statue before entering RR Avenue. Around 300-350 buses operate will daily from this terminus. SBSTC sources said they will be watching commuter behaviour for the next few days before deciding on a revised timetable.