Inadequate or absence of public transport buses services through corridors developed in the city in the past 20 years is turning a cause for concern.
Votaries of public transportation cited numerous corridors like the four-lane Stadium Link Road that connects the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium with Karanakodam on Thammanam-Pulleppady Road; Subhash Bose Road that links Kaloor-Kadavanthra Road with Vyttila, and the Pottakuzhi bridge as apt examples of relatively new corridors that are not linked by public transport.
Similarly, the 2-km-long Kundannoor bridge and Alexander Parambithara Bridge that link the NH Bypass with West Kochi and Willingdon Island, Panampilly Nagar, Seaport-Airport Road, Gandhinagar, and Fort Kochi-Chellanam road have nominal public transport which falls well short of the increasing demand for it.
Ernakulam Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Reji P. Varghese said KSRTC buses could operate services through any road where public transport is found wanting. “The existing private buses too can seek permit to operate through such roads by applying for route variation. Such requests are placed before the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) Board which takes a decision after conducting an enquiry. In case of fresh permits, only buses that are less than eight years old are allowed to conduct service,” he added.
“The Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) cannot direct any private bus operator to conduct service through a certain route, since the operator can choose any route as per an amendment to the Motor Vehicles’ Act in 1989. The operator can choose any route provided there is less than 5% overlapping with a nationalised route,” Mr. Varghese said.
UMTA needed
Another MVD official stressed the urgency of constituting the much-awaited Unified Metropolitan Transportation Authority (UMTA), so that it could take a holistic view of the inadequacy of public transport in newly-formed and emerging residential/commercial areas and suggest remedial measures. “For instance, capping the number of city buses at 700 has affected deployment of newer buses in other routes. Another issue is the nationalisation notification which fully or partially excludes private buses from entering specific roads,” he said. He further called for introducing smaller buses instead of the 12-metre-long, 45-seater buses along narrow but crucial roads like Thammanam-Pullepady Road which have no bus services.
Secretary of the Kochi-based Kerala Bus Transport Association (KBTA) K.M. Navas demanded that the government promulgate the UMTA Act for Kochi, so that buses could either begin service or can be rerouted through new corridors which are not linked by public transport.
“The introduction of public transport must go hand-in-hand with developing or widening new roads,” said K.J. Sohan, former Mayor and an avid votary of public transport. “Else, the construction of new roads, bridges, and flyovers will lead to pouring in of more private vehicles into cities. This influx of vehicles can be prevented only if public transportation modes are strengthened,” he added. Mr. Sohan was chairman of the Kochi Corporation’s town planning standing committee.
