The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Trucks on service lanes leave commuters in the cold

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 24, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Trucks on service lanes leave commuters in the cold

K. Manikandan

Bus shelters, bays serve no purpose now, say residents

ORDER NOT IN PLACE: With lorries occupying service lanes, particularly near bus shelters, government buses are forced to stop on the road to pick up waiting commuters near Tambaram. A typical scene on GST Road. — Photo: A. Muralitharan.

TAMBARAM : Parking of heavy vehicles on service lanes of the Grand Southern Trunk Road beyond Tambaram has been causing an inconvenience to commuters waiting at bus shelters constructed by the National Highways Authority of India.

As part of improvement works on the National Highway 45, service lanes have been provided at many places for pedestrians and small vehicles. Steel fences have been installed to separate the service lanes from the carriageway. A welcome feature of the improvement works is the provision of shelters on bus bays meant exclusively for government buses.

However, neither the bus shelters nor the bus bays serve any purpose since there is little monitoring by government agencies, complain residents of Vandalur, Urapakkam and Guduvanchery.

They say that as container trucks, tipper lorries and light commercial vehicles are parked on the service lanes, particularly near the NHAI's shelters, government buses plying to mofussil areas are unable to use the bays.

As a result, buses of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation and other State Transport Corporations have no other go but to stop on the carriageway, taking by surprise vehicles coming behind. Commuters and residents of suburban areas beyond Tambaram have been urging authorities of government agencies concerned to ensure that service lanes and bus bays are used for the purpose alone they have been built for.

A few weeks ago, a jeep rammed a government bus, which was picking up commuters near Kattankulathur, according to R.Gopalakrishnan, a resident of the area.

The residents say that unless there is proper maintenance, facilities executed at several crores of rupees will go waste.

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