MTC only

Chennai: For the past one week, city commuters have been saved the usual commotion that surrounds major bus stops in the city. This is because new barricades have been put in these bus-stops, disallowing share autos from entering the area.

Shanmugham a daily commuter at the Ashok pillar stop says, “It was chaotic before the barricades came up. Share autos would crowd the place and we were unable to board buses.”

According to MTC officials, barricades have been put up in major bus stops including those in Guindy, KK Nagar, Annanagar and Egmore and inspectors have been posted at all these points to ensure the smooth running of traffic. Though the move has eased the flow of traffic, there is stiff resistance from share auto drivers.

An inspector posted at the Guindy bus stop says, “Though share auto drivers are asking us to remove the barricades, commuters are happy. The bus stop has almost 200 buses entering the place every day and the situation was bad until now with share autos blocking the ways they tried getting customers.”

The scene at Mugalivakkam near  DLF IT park is that of chaos as the day comes to a close. Officegoers move in herds and the ill-lit bus stops are swamped by share autos which halt the traffic endlessly. The place was not included in MTC’s plan. Traffic police posted here say, “They are not allowed to stop on the road and are supposed to keep moving, but none of them obey.

We catch the offenders and fine them, but the next day they are doing the same. He points out that people themselves prefer share autos to buses. Most of them go to Guindy but take share autos as these stop at the place they want. He adds, “The road is narrow and putting up barricades is only going to congest it further.”