The city is likely to have a new bus stand. The Coimbatore Corporation has planned to have a new bus stand in Vellalore to ease traffic congestion.
Sharing the details with The Hindu on Tuesday, the Corporation Commissioner G. Latha said that following suggestions from the Coimbatore City Police, a few other government agencies, non-government organisations and members of civil society, the Corporation had decided to take up the proposal to build a new bus stand on the outskirts of the city.
This would mean that all the mofussil bus stands that operate within the city – Gandhipuram, SETC, Singanallur and Ukkadam – would stand shifted to the new bus stand. The town bus stand would not be disturbed, though. The Corporation had just started working on the plan, she said and added that it had a long way to go – pass a resolution in the Council, engage a consultant, prepare a detailed project report, get the State Government clearance and finance, and then float tenders before throwing open the bus stand to the people.
Shifting the bus stand there would mean that buses from Sathyamangalam, Tirupur, Erode and places east of the city, Palladam, Pollachi, Palani, Tiruchi, Madurai and areas south of the city would not enter the city.
The plan was to take the buses to the new bus stand on the Coimbatore-Kochi Bypass Road and the Chettipalayam Road to the new bus stand. The Chettipalayam Road was wide enough to take the traffic.
The Commissioner also said that the move would lead to better utilisation of the Vellalore land and development of the area.
Along with the bus stand, the Corporation would also shift the Lorry Pettai, which at present was in Ukkadam.
The move was long in the offing and a must for the city, said R. Raveendran, Honorary Secretary, Residents’ Awareness Association of Coimbatore. As part of the proposal to ease traffic congestion, the Corporation must not stop with shifting the bus stand but also take up a mass transit project – mono or metro rail project.
If that was done, people moving from the city to the bus stand would face no difficulty.
The project was no doubt welcome but the Corporation must learn from the past, cautioned K. Kathirmathiyon of Coimbatore Consumer Cause.
After constructing the Mettupalayam Road Bus Stand near Saibaba Colony, the Corporation let the private bus operators and another government agency get court orders to continue to operate buses to Gandhipuram, thus defeating the very purpose of constructing a bus stand.
This time though the Corporation should have on board all the government agencies concerned before constructing the bus stand so that without any resistance, all buses used the new facility.
The City Traffic Police had only welcomed the decision. The Chennai and Madurai experience suggested that though there would be opposition initially it would peter out once people started realising the benefits, said T.K. Rajasekaran, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Traffic.
The move would also bring down accidents, he added.
