Surat buses won’t stop mid-road for passengers

SURAT: Next time, you wave your hand at a city bus to stop in the middle of the road, it won’t.

In order to ease traffic jam situation on city roads due to arbitrary stopping of city buses anywhere, traffic department of city police has decided to start a special drive to make aware drivers to only stop the buses at the dedicated bus stands and pickup points.

The city traffic police embark on the drive starting from next week across the city to sensitize the bus drivers for boarding and offloading passengers at the dedicated bus stands and not on the road. Assistant commissioner of police (traffic cell), Z A Shaikh, said, “We intend to start the drive from next week against the drivers of city buses. None of the buses stop at the bus stand and they pick and drop passengers on the road. This causes traffic to slow down on the main road.”

A fleet of 275 city buses and another 166 ply on BRTS and other routes across the city. Another 300 city buses will be added to the fleet in the coming months and that 50 BRTS buses have already arrived. The number of bus stands across the city is more than 600, including 166 BRTS stops. Despite such a huge set-up of bus stands, not a single city bus stops at the stands. Instead, passengers board the bus either from the starting point or from the middle of the road.

The BRTS department officials of Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) have a different view. They blame illegal encroachments at the bus stands by vendors and autorickshawalas, which prevent the buses from stopping there. A BRTS officer said, “You visit any bus stop in the city, they are either occupied by roadside vendors or autorickshaw walas. Preventing bus drivers from stopping in the middle of the road is not the solution. Police and civic body need to work in tandem to remove encroachments from the bus stands.”