KSRTC night buses give station the slip

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Follow us:WhatsappFacebookTwitterTelegram.cls-1{fill:#4d4d4d;}.cls-2{fill:#fff;}Google NewsComplaints are heaping that KSRTC buses are violating rules, especially during the night. Passengers allege that after 8 pm it is hell for them to get buses running on routes to Paravoor, Angamaly and Ernakulam side.KSRTC buses that come to the bus station in Aluva skip the bus stand. The passengers, anxious to reach home after 8.30 pm, scurry into the station upon the sight of a bus.Kuttiamu, a passenger to Paravoor, ran first inside the station and on learning that the bus was to Perumbavoor, came out to the main road immediately. What made him anxiously run here and there was, he said, first the poor visibility of name boards on the buses and secondly the feeble lighting in the station vicinity.“If some drivers choose to go inside the bus station others go straight, stopping just for a few seconds in front of the station, mostly to drop a passenger or two. As soon as the passengers alight, they take off,” Kuttiamu said.Yet some other buses stop just to show that they have touched Aluva station. ”Whether the passengers get in or not is not their concern,” Kuttiamu said.Mathias, another passenger to Paravoor, complained that no buses are taking the route set by the DTO. Day or night, buses leaving Aluva to Paravoor or Angamaly have to take the left turn before the bypass junction and come under the new fly-over before joining the highway to Angamaly or Paravoor. Passengers waiting below the fly-over are to be picked up. But the bus drivers are flouting the rule and going straight from the bypass junction to the highway during the night.Shopkeepers from the market are the real sufferers, forcing them to come either to the bus station or to the stops in between. But as these in-between stops are also overlooked by the drivers at night, passengers have to take the extra strain of walking down to the bus station or hire an auto paying double fair.“On many occasions I had to beg for the help of night lorries or hire an autorickshaw to get back home,” Mathias said.“As there is no clear visibility in the main bypass junction during the night hours owing to insufficient street lights and absence of traffic lights, KSRTC buses heading straight into the highway junction can cause major mishaps as cars and heavy vehicles including gas tankers, bound for Edappally or Ernakulam, speed past along the junction,” complainants said.In view of the complaints by the passengers, DTO of KSRTC, Aluva, said that a study has been carried out and a few proposals have been prepared.It will be presented in the next traffic committee, hopefully to alleviate the present problems.A reason for the drivers to deviate during night is that a number of vehicles are night-parked below the fly-over, making it laborious for the KSRTC buses to drive through.Again, the Traffic Department has barred the KSRTC buses from taking right turn from Pump Junction to avoid the traffic holdups during daytime. But KSRTC buses, without giving any care to the instruction, turns to the Station Road and create traffic blocks, complainants said.first published:September 17, 2012, 11:19 ISTlast updated:September 17, 2012, 11:19 IST
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Complaints are heaping that KSRTC buses are violating rules, especially during the night. Passengers allege that after 8 pm it is hell for them to get buses running on routes to Paravoor, Angamaly and Ernakulam side.

KSRTC buses that come to the bus station in Aluva skip the bus stand. The passengers, anxious to reach home after 8.30 pm, scurry into the station upon the sight of a bus.

Kuttiamu, a passenger to Paravoor, ran first inside the station and on learning that the bus was to Perumbavoor, came out to the main road immediately. What made him anxiously run here and there was, he said, first the poor visibility of name boards on the buses and secondly the feeble lighting in the station vicinity.

“If some drivers choose to go inside the bus station others go straight, stopping just for a few seconds in front of the station, mostly to drop a passenger or two. As soon as the passengers alight, they take off,” Kuttiamu said.

Yet some other buses stop just to show that they have touched Aluva station. ”Whether the passengers get in or not is not their concern,” Kuttiamu said.

Mathias, another passenger to Paravoor, complained that no buses are taking the route set by the DTO. Day or night, buses leaving Aluva to Paravoor or Angamaly have to take the left turn before the bypass junction and come under the new fly-over before joining the highway to Angamaly or Paravoor. Passengers waiting below the fly-over are to be picked up. But the bus drivers are flouting the rule and going straight from the bypass junction to the highway during the night.

Shopkeepers from the market are the real sufferers, forcing them to come either to the bus station or to the stops in between. But as these in-between stops are also overlooked by the drivers at night, passengers have to take the extra strain of walking down to the bus station or hire an auto paying double fair.

“On many occasions I had to beg for the help of night lorries or hire an autorickshaw to get back home,” Mathias said.

“As there is no clear visibility in the main bypass junction during the night hours owing to insufficient street lights and absence of traffic lights, KSRTC buses heading straight into the highway junction can cause major mishaps as cars and heavy vehicles including gas tankers, bound for Edappally or Ernakulam, speed past along the junction,” complainants said.In view of the complaints by the passengers, DTO of KSRTC, Aluva, said that a study has been carried out and a few proposals have been prepared.

It will be presented in the next traffic committee, hopefully to alleviate the present problems.

A reason for the drivers to deviate during night is that a number of vehicles are night-parked below the fly-over, making it laborious for the KSRTC buses to drive through.

Again, the Traffic Department has barred the KSRTC buses from taking right turn from Pump Junction to avoid the traffic holdups during daytime. But KSRTC buses, without giving any care to the instruction, turns to the Station Road and create traffic blocks, complainants said.