The Peerkankaranai town panchayat bus stop in Perungalathur, a transit point for State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) and private buses, is a picture of chaos.
It has three bus bays, one each for the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC), SETC and private buses. However, all three busy bays are occupied by SETC and private travel buses, leaving MTC commuters to stand on GST Road to board buses. Rarely, when there is sufficient space, a few MTC route numbers come into the designated bay. Most of the time, they stop on GST Road forcing commuters to run and board the buses.
The eateries located alongside the panchayat stop is another problem, as visitors to these eateries park their vehicles in the bus bays hindering free movement of the buses. “Vehicle users, proceeding towards VOC Street, Nethaji Street, Kamaraj Nagar and Perungalathur are not able to move freely. The buses should stop at the bus bay instead of stopping near the side-lanes, blocking the way. We have to wait till the passengers board the buses and leave the transit point,” says R. Selvaraj, a resident of Kamaraj Nagar.
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“The chaos prevails from the entrance of the stop till the junction of Nethaji Street and G.S.T. Road,” he adds. “Steps have not been taken by traffic authorities at the transit point to regulate the traffic. Though barricades have been put up separating the three bus bays for smooth flow of traffic, lack of policemen to regulate the traffic ‘encourages’ violations by the inter-State bus drivers, leading to traffic bottlenecks up to the signal,” vehicle-users said.
According to official sources, all the stakeholders — MTC, SETC, private bus operators and road users — must cooperate and follow lane discipline.
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