KOCHI: Traffic was worse than usual in the city on Thursday.
While the usual suspects-Kochi Metro and bad roads-were blamed for the slow moving traffic, it appeared that there were more elements at work with almost all city points experiencing traffic logjams.
A car ran into a KSRTC bus on the South overbridge bringing the already slow moving traffic into a virtual standstill. It took hours to cover even short distances and the story was the same at Kadavanthra, M.G. Road, Vyttila, Palarivattom, Edappally, and S.A. Road.
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Joby, a motorist cited the increasing vehicle density in the city with the onset of vacation for the worsening traffic.
“Besides, with rain lashing the city in the past few evenings many people who otherwise were usually dependent on two-wheelers seem to have gone for cars. There is hardly any room for so many vehicles, especially cars, as roads at important points have been reduced to single lane due to ongoing Metro works,” he observed.
Things only turned worse with rain lashing the city in the evening yet again inundating areas prone to water-logging. Traffic signal at Palarivattom got damaged in the lightening forcing police to control vehicular movement manually.
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That held up traffic with long lines of vehicles appearing on the entire stretch of the NH Bypass between Vyttila and Edappally.
“Rain usually slows down the traffic. With increasing incidents of falling trees, motorists are extra cautious and that has further added to the problem,” officials at Traffic West police station said.
The ceasing of rain led to a fresh surge of traffic as two-wheelers who took cover under roadside shops and buildings hit the roads in droves. Traffic is only set to turn even worse with people set to flow to the city in the coming days for shopping ahead of Vishu next week.