A second entrance to the Gandhipuram Town bus stand on Dr. Nanjappa Road was thrown open by District Collector here on Wednesday.
A portion of the bus stand compound wall for a width of 40 feet was demolished for creating the new way.
Earlier there was only one entrance to the town bus stand from Women’s Polytechnic College Road.
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According to the police, 535 town buses make 2,450 entries (and as many exits) from the bus stand every day. All these buses had only one entrance near Anna Statue Roundtana while there were three exits. It forces buses to stand in a long queue on the road, affecting traffic on all the roads connecting the junction.
Opening the second entrance would divert 312 buses making 1,550 trips to enter the bus stand here and reduce congestion at the main entrance.
Buses from Sathyamangalam Road, Mettupalayam Road and Avinashi Road will enter the bus stand through the second entrance. Their exit will be as it was earlier.
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Police Commissioner A. Amalraj, Corporation Commissioner K. Vijayakarthikeyan, Managing Director of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (Coimbatore) Thangavel, Deputy Commissioners of the City Police S. Lakshmi, R. Sivakumar and Pa. Moorthy and Regional Transport Officer S. Udhayakumar were present at the event.
There were some inconveniences at the bus stand on Wednesday as not all private and government bus drivers were informed about the change in the directions. Some buses from Sathy Road and Avinashi Road continued using the old entrance. Traffic police personnel said that it would take a day or two for the drivers to get used to diversion.
On the other hand, footpath vendors hindered entry of buses through the new path.
They were later cleared by the police.
Traffic was held up at the Gandhipuram signal for a little while to give way for buses from the Mettupalayam and Sathyamangalam Road direction to cross the junction and enter the bus stand.