Tough ride for bus service in Chandni ChowkTough ride for bus service in Chandni Chowk

Saturday, January 24, 2009
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com


The green bus service started in the historic Chandni Chowk, with the aim of decongesting the area and bringing about some semblance
on the roads, seems to have run into rough weather. Due to lack of enforcement, shared autos and cyclerickshaws continue to ply illegally on the main road making it difficult for the bus service to operate.

The chaos on the roads is also back. With motorised vehicles like cars, autos and two wheelers fighting for space with handcarts and cyclerickshaws, the narrow road has become congested. Add to this the unauthorised parking on either side which has further reduced the space for traffic. The operator of this service has now filed a complaint with the transport department laying out the problems faced in operation and sought corrective action.

"The main problem is that cyclerickshaws and shared autos ply on the same route as the buses even though they have been banned from doing so. We approached all the authorities but no action has been taken, perhaps because they have their own interests. It is getting so tough to operate the buses that we don't know how long the service can continue,'' said Kaushal Mehta of Chaudhary Transport Company, the bus operator.

At present, 28 buses run on the Red Fort-Fatehpuri route. The other route proposed by the government from Fountain Chowk to Red Fort via Fatehpuri was reportedly abandoned after the first month itself as one bus trip "took more than two hours because of the congestion''. The operator has also got two air-conditioned buses for tourist trips. However, these hardly ever run on the road. "The area is so congested that the ACs stop working during the jams. So they are just lying parked for the last few months,'' Mehta added.

Locals say that getting fleeced by autos is a major problem. "Autos want to ply shared trips on the bus routes by taking in 6-7 passengers at once and charging Rs 5 from all. No one is willing to take you out of the area as they make more money this way,'' said Sanjay Bhargava, general secretary of the Chandni Chowk traders association.

When the bus service was initiated in June 2007, the traffic police and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had been asked to decongest the area and also ensure that rickshaws and autos don't ply on short trips on the main road. The buses were introduced with the idea to make commuting on the congested stretch faster and more comfortable. This was done after a study by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) recommended buses for the area in place of thousands of cyclerickshaws.

The authorities had also been asked to remove encroachments, including police beat boxes, but no action has been taken on that. The traffic police claim that autorickshaws and even cyclerickshaws are regularly prosecuted and even impounded. "Strict action is taken against autorickshaws and we have caught numerous cyclerickshaws and handed them to MCD,'' said RK Pandey, DCP (traffic), northern range. The problem, sources said, is that since the rickshaws are owned by "influential people'', they are almost never crushed, which is the legal procedure for impounded cyclerickshaws. So they pay a measly fine and hit the roads again.