STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Traffic congestion is a major problem in Guwahati. To ease the traffic congestion is the city, the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) has come up with a surprising decision. City buses will now ply on the roads on a rotational basis and around 100 buses on an average will remain off the road every day. The RTA has said that this rule will be implemented only on an experimental basis.
About 80% of the city’s population use city buses for commuting. This decision to allow buses to ply on rotational basis will adversely affect the large number of people who depend on city buses for moving from one part of the city to another. As a result of this decision, city buses will become more crowded. So is this half-baked decision a solution to the traffic problem of the city?
Traffic snarls in the city can be largely attributed to the inefficiency of the traffic police personnel to regulate traffic flow. Earlier, there were flying squads of the traffic police which would move around and disperse traffic in various parts of the city. But now there are no flying squads. There are just a few traffic points in the city where one can see traffic policemen regulating the traffic. In most traffic points there are no traffic policemen, resulting in traffic chaos.
Another reason behind the traffic problem is that most of the main roads in the city have become overcrowded. Public transport vehicles, private vehicles, Uber and Ola cabs, and two-wheelers choke the narrow roads of the city. Moreover, most of the multi-storey commercial establishments on the city’s main roads like GS Road, AT Road etc, do not have parking space. Consequently, people park their vehicles on the roadside and this adds to the traffic woes.
The RTA has said that the decision to allow city buses to ply on rotational basis will not affect the public. But this is far from true. With less number of city buses plying, the buses will become crowded. Travelling in crowded buses in this summer heat will cause a lot of public inconvenience. The authorities concerned must come up with a scientific and realistic solution to the traffic problem in the city. Decisions which will only add to people’s woes will hardly serve the purpose.
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