Discipline unruly buses: DCP (Traffic)

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Dec 29: City buses drive commuters and traffic magers crazy! Traffic magers pass the buck on the State Transport Department for not doing enough to discipline the unruly fleets of buses in the city.   

Accidents, including some fatal ones, are very common in Guwahati. In fact, accidents are mecingly on the rise in the city where the number of vehicles is rising at a very fast pace, so is the number of accidents. It is time the saying ‘accidents will happen’ was contested. Traffic magers firmly believe that precaution can minimize accidents, to a large extent, in the city.

The other day, a youth was found dead on the flyover at Bhangagarh in the city. It was certain the youth was hit by a vehicle. However, the police are clueless about the vehicle involved in the accident. This is just one example. There are many accidents taking place in the city when city bus drivers are seen clearly at fault. They, as often as not, drive commuters and traffic magers crazy. City buses literally being on a ‘road race’ for getting more passengers is glaringly seen in Guwahati. They do it when traffic police personnel are not seen anywhere near. In the process, they lead to avoidable accidents, harass commuters who also include aged and ailing ones. Some city bus crews in the city sometimes ask passengers to get up or get down in haste when they are in road races with other city buses. When they get caught they pay fines, but who cares? For bus owners are the ones who have to cough up for the fines they pay. There are also instances of city bus crews misbehaving with commuters.

A few eye-catching incidents concerning city buses in the city are – the fleet of buses plying between Panjabari and Adabari often engaging themselves in road races, city buses being stopped at the mouth of the service road in the Ganeshguri-end of the flyover at Six Mile not allowing vehicles plying through the service road to get easy passage leading to traffic srls for long hours, stopping of city buses immediately after the flyover at Ganeshguri before reaching Walford Bus Stop, overstaying of buses in stops, more than four or five buses staying at the same stop at a time, and the like.

Sick and tired of unruly city bus crews in the city, Guwahati DCP (Traffic) Amanjeet Kaur, talking to this reporter, said: “Since it is the State Transport Department that has to make time tables and rules ready for city buses, the department should see that things go hassle-free. They should follow a proper time magement so as to make city buses coming to various stops after regular intervals of time. When four of five buses overstay at a particular stop they do create traffic srls, leading to accidents and harassment to commuters and other road users. GS Road is a busy road with maximum number of vehicles plying over it. Sobriety on the part of drivers is a must so as to make traffic flow in the city smooth and hassle-free.”