Though the city of Coimbatore is not expanding in terms of economy, the traffic scenario here is almost at par with major cities. In Tamil Nadu, next to Chennai, Coimbatore is emerging to be a traffic-centric place.
Keeping in account the whopping increase in vehicular population, the city traffic police are devising sustainable ways to ensure smooth transit of vehicles through the day. One such recent initiative of the traffic police department is the 'Bus Bay' concept.
Standing behind a bus in the traffic is the most annoying thing for the motorists. That too when the roads are narrow, the motorists are left with no choice other than to move at snail pace behind the bus leaving them very impatient. Every time when the bus stops in a bus stop, all the vehicles behind the bus got to halt until the bus starts moving again.
This not only creates traffic congestion but also urges the motorists to over-take the bus despite the risk, which has led to many accidents in the past.
'Taking into consideration of these issues, the City traffic Police has come with implementing the bus bay initiative', says Deputy Commissioner of Police (traffic), S. Saravanan.
The bus bay off-line bus stop is a designated spot on the side of a road where buses may pull out of the flow of traffic to pick up and drop off passengers. By doing so, the vehicles need not queue behind the buses until they pick or drop passengers. It also ensures that the bus stops in the designated bus stops rightly.
This will in turn assure the passengers make use of the bus shelters for waiting rather than to stand on the roads for the bus. The passengers often stand on the roads in a disorganized way while they wait for buses, fearing the bus would not stop in the bus stand on time every time. Implementation of the bus-bay will eliminate this tension for the bus passengers as well.
Stickers with attractive colors will be struck to indicate the bus-bay and drivers should deviate into the bus-bay area from the road to pick and drop passengers.
The implementation of this bus-bay is go by phases. Initially, we have planned to implement the concept in populous areas like Avinashi Road, Lakshmi Mills signal, Chinthamani signal on Mettupalayam Road, MGR Market, Sivalaya theater junction, Sundarapuram, Kovaipudur and Singanallur. Based on the feedback from the public, more places will be added for implementing bus-bay.
People are welcome to share their ideas and suggestions with the city traffic police to reduce the present traffic congestion in the city and also futuristic approach that needs to be implemented' said DC Traffic S. Saravanan.
Well, before implementation this bus bay concept has received a great positive response from the public especially motorists.