Halting of long-distance private buses on city roads to pick up passengers for overnight travel has been affecting smooth flow of traffic in the late evening hours.
To tackle the problem, the Coimbatore city traffic police have decided to call a meeting of the bus operators to discuss measures to reduce such halts on busy roads, especially from 6.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) R. Mutharasu told The Hindu the issue has come to the attention of the police and a meeting of bus owners will be planned soon.
Halting of private buses is common on Avinashi Road between Lakshmi Mills junction and airport junction. Such buses are halted at places other than bus stops as per the convenience of the passengers who choose the place of boarding.
The situation turns worse when buses are halted for a long time occupying the motorable space, to give time for reserved passengers to arrive and to load luggages.
“What we understand is that these buses are halted at places requested by passengers. Online reservation platforms allow passengers to choose the place of pick up. The police will ask the bus owners to reduce the number of stoppages on busy roads,” said Mr. Mutharasu.
He said that the police would also instruct the opeartors to avoid the use of high power LED headlights and power horns in omni buses.
During special drives conducted in the last two weeks, the police have fined around 400 persons for the use power horns and about the same number of persons for using high power LED headlights and additional lights for decoration purposes.
According to bus operators, around 200 omni buses conduct overnight services to other cities from Coimbatore.
