A few of the bus stops along the Kochi Metro rail alignment have been shifted to ease traffic congestion on the route.
Some bus stops that were sitting too close to each other have been merged, whereas some others have been pushed away by a few metres from congested junctions.
The Pipeline bus stop has gone, and now buses heading towards the city will halt at Palarivattom Junction after Alinchuvadu. The bus stop at Padma junction, meanwhile, has been moved a few metres ahead and plonked in front of the Chennai Silks showroom. On the same route, buses going towards Kaloor will no longer stop at Shenoy’s Junction.
The stops at Lisie Junction and near Judges’ Avenue road have been taken away. Buses will instead stop near the gate of the Reserve Bank of India building. The stops at Desabhimani Junction and Janatha have been moved closer to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The Modern Bread and High School stops have been moved towards Changampuzha Park. Buses that stopped near Edappally station will now halt near the old post office.
Pathadipalam stop has been shifted to Kummancheri steel area, Koonamthai stop to near food court area, Cusat stop to Little Flower ITI area, and Premier Pump stop to Best Bakery area.
However, the buses continued to take passengers from the old bus stops on Friday as well. The police have posted signboards at these locations to inform people about the change. The English signboards, however, are not easily visible.
“People are still standing at the old stops so the buses stop there too. I think it might take a few days to get things streamlined,” said a traffic policeman posted at Padma Junction.
