Motorists and pedestrians have been having a harrowing time around the Central Bus Stand in the last few weeks because of the increase in the volume of the heavy vehicles owing to traffic diversions to facilitate the construction of a bridge near the Viralimalai Road junction.
Traffic snarls have become common, especially on weekends, when a large number of special buses are operated by the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation and the private omni bus operators.
Be it passengers, traffic police, or the bus crew – their common complaint is that the central bus stand does not even have minimum facilities to passengers. Paucity of space has been a major problem as Tiruchi is a major transit centre that connects almost all parts of the State. The problem got aggravated consequent to the traffic diversions enforced for the construction of bridge at the Aristo roundabout.
It has been a back-breaking exercise for the traffic police who have been toiling hard to ensure free flow of traffic, particularly near the Railway junction and on the Junction Road. A mobile team with public address system is constantly doing the rounds asking the the bus crew or car drivers to move forward.
A police official says a portion of the main road has been partitioned into two segments near the bus stand by placing a number of barricades. “The make-shift barricades have been arranged in the form of a garland so as to allow free entry for the incoming buses and for the safety of two-wheelers,” he says.
Police personnel say the problem gets aggravated only when the bus crew violate the regulation. On the other hand, a section of bus drivers say the facilities and amenities, particularly in terms of parking bays at the central bus stand here, have been deteriorating.
A.I. Ansari, a bus driver from Madurai division, feels that more comprehensive facilities should be provided at the central bus stand. Inadequate space has been a major problem as the safety of the pedestrians criss-crossing the area is at stake.
“I have to manoeuvre the bus with utmost care at this bus stand with an eye on safety of pedestrians. The diversion of buses has only added to the inconvenience of not only the bus passengers but also the crew members,” he says and added that inadequate space for vehicles posed a risk to the crew as well as passengers.
M. Sekaran, president of the Federation of Consumer and Service Organisations, Tiruchi, says setting up temporary bus stand would bring about permanent remedy to the problem. Citing the success of the temporary bus stand during the Deepavali season last year, he said that the system should continue till either the work on the bridge is completed or the central bus stand is shifted to a new venue — whichever is earlier.
