It is one mode of transport that can change the very face of public transport in the city, at least till the Light Metro begins chugging through Thiruvananthapuram.
But then, if the present circumstances are any indication, the concept of share taxi-autos might just never take off in the State capital.
One that was on paper for quite long, authorities, including the district administration and the city police, had given another go at making it a reality before the National Games in January. That time around, staunch opposition from a few trade unions, who felt that the move may turn out to be a blow to taxis and autorickshaws in the city, grounded the plans.
Three passengers, who will normally hire three autorickshaws, might share one, thus ‘robbing’ two other autorickshaws of their passengers was the major apprehension that troubled them.
Efforts to have a few trial runs too fell flat with response from the public being lukewarm, according to a senior police officer. With that, a highly successful mode of public transport in several other major cities in the country died a premature death in Thiruvananthapuram.
These days, there is a perceptible change near the Government Medical College Hospital. Frequent traffic snarls due to stoppage of government and private buses in front of the old casualty block of the hospital had become a thing of the past, thanks to the commissioning of the new bus stand. Though the new bus stand developed by Thiruvananthapuram Development Authority at a cost of Rs.1 crore was opened a month ago, bus operators, particularly private bus owners, had refused to operate services from the stand.
Following a meeting convened by the District Collector on May 27, it was decided to close the bus stand near the casualty. From May 28, traffic policemen were posted near the old bus stop to guide passengers to the TRIDA bus stand. Since then, traffic congestion has considerably reduced, the police say.
(Reporting by Dennis Marcus Mathew and Rajesh B. Nair)
