Unauthorised bus halts contribute to traffic woes in Margao; concerns over enforcement lapses

Traffic snarls on the road leading to the Margao flyover when buses halt to collect passengers.

Photo Credits: Santosh Mirajkar

MARGAO
Guess how many authorised halts can a bus make after leaving the KTC bus stand, Margao on its onward journey to down south via the Margao flyover?

May be just two halts, officials may agree – one near the Hospicio hospital and the second at the Comunidade building, near the Margao Municipal Square. In reality, however, buses leaving the KTC bus stand make innumerable unauthorised stops or halts along the kilometre and half-long congested road stretch, contributing to the traffic snarls in the heart of the commercial capital, right under the nose of the traffic enforcement authorities – the RTO and the Margao traffic cell.

Consider this: Passengers travelling by the South bound buses claim that a bus leaving the KTC bus stand, Margao would make the first unauthorised halt just 200 metres away from the bus stand, to collect passengers near the SGPDA market.

The second halt comes near the Old traffic junction where passengers wait to board the buses despite the fact that KTC bus stand is just a distance away from the Old market. Take note, the Old market traffic junction is now widened and broadened with slip ways to regulate the flow of traffic. However, the unauthorised bus halts at the junction by the South-bound buses has put spokes in the smooth traffic flow, with buses picking up passengers at the Old market junction is literally the order of the day.

That’s not all. After picking up passengers at the Old market junction, the same bus enters the city at Old market, only to make the third halt near the Education Department building near the Holy Spirit Church square, before making another halt at the Holy Spirit School building.

The first official bus halt comes in front of the Hospicio hospital building. Though operations at the Hospicio hospital stands shifted to the new hospital building since the last three years, there’s no change to the status of the official bus halt at the old Hospicio building.

Again, do not be surprised if the bus makes an unauthorised halt near the Ana Fonte garden, just 200 metres away from the Hospicio bus stop, either to pick up or drop passengers.

Instances are galore wherein the buses would make another unauthorised halt near the Old Collectorate building near the Eagle showroom, before entering the bus bay at the Comunidade building to make its second official halt in the city.

How long can the bus make a halt at the Comunidade building depends purely on the arrival of another bus plying on the same route. One thing, however, is clear that buses leaving the Comunidade bus bay are supposed to take the flyover before heading to various destinations without a halt in between.

In reality, however, the buses will make an unauthorised halt near the George Garments area, hardly 100 metres from the Comunidade building, before making another stop just before the Margao flyover, leaving traffic snarls along the stretch.

In fact, traffic snarls is literally the order of the day when two buses make an unauthorised halt at the starting point of the Margao flyover by incoming buses into the city to drop passengers and buses collecting passengers.

GOACAN coordinator, Roland Martins, who made a strong case for notification of bus stops and display of the stops through signages, said it is important to put up the signages to stop the unauthorised bus stops. “A mere bus shelter does not qualify a place as a bus stop. The place needs to be notified. A signage needs to be put up in the interest of the consumers as well as the enforcement agencies, which can then crack a whip against buses making unauthorised stops and halts,” Martins added.

Traffic violators fined, but bus halts near Margao flyover go unchecked

MARGAO: Citizens find traffic personnel and RTO officials at the nook and corner of the Commercial capital just waiting to challan traffic violators.

Sadly, one hardly comes across traffic personnel stationed near the flyover to deter the buses from making a halt to collect or drop passengers. The same is the case at the remaining unauthorised bus halts along the entire stretch from the Margao KTC bus stand to the Margao flyover.

Officials, however, pointed out that it is not possible to depute traffic personnel at one place all the time. “We do challan buses for making unauthorised halts near the Margao flyover or at other stops, but it is not possible to station personnel at one place,” informed an official.

Despite warnings, city buses continue to cause traffic chaos at Aquem junction 

MARGAO: Just a month and half ago, Assistant Transport Director Nixon Soares sounded a caution to the erring city bus operators to avoid long halts and stop harassment of passengers at the St Sebastian Church traffic junction Aquem-Margao.

Have the ground reality changed for the better since then? It does not appear to be so. The weekend saw traffic jam at the Aquem junction. Reason: A couple of city buses were found parked at the junction, apparently in wait for the passengers, coming from the Aquem side of the Margao railway station.

Motorists travelling on the road, besides local citizens of Aquem, question why should they suffer or the traffic come to a halt just because of the city buses jostling to collect passengers at the junction.

Recently, RTO official Jimmy along with Margao Traffic Police Cell in-charge, PI Sanjay Dalvi had made their presence at the Aquem junction to send a message loud and clear to the erring bus operators that the enforcement agencies would not remain silent spectators to the traffic jams caused by the city buses.

Locals pointed out the traffic jams take place during the afternoons or evenings after duty hours of the traffic police personnel. “The law enforcement agencies need to put a mechanism in place wherein buses do not come and park at the junction for a long time. They should focus on a system by involving the bus operators to avoid jams and inconveniences to the motorists and local populace,” remarked a local citizen.