A.Bus bays at PMPML bus stops vital necessity - urgent steps for permanent arrangement needed

To

Shri Mahesh Pathak,Municipal Commissioner,PMC

Shri R N Joshi, C&MD,PMPML

Cc :Shri Gulabrao Pol,CP Pune, Shri Singhal,Jt CP.,ShriVishwas Pandhare, DCP(Traffic)

Dear Sirs,

Subject :A.Bus bays at PMPML bus stops vital necessity -  urgent steps for permanent arrangement needed

             B.PMPML Must Enforce Strict Discipline. Take help of Alert Citizens.

A).City bus service is of vital importance for the city. A major problem faced by PMPML bus drivers and bus commuters is that buses are unable to approach the bus stop and are forced to halt on the carriageway of road due to road side clutter and vehicle parking right up to the bus stop on both sides. This creates severe problems for all –

1) Buses halting on road block vehicle lane holding up traffic flow and adding to the existing congestion on road

2) Commuters have to wait on the road to be able to see approaching bus and have access to it

3) Commuters have to board bus in the midst of traffic with great inconvenience

4) Commuters getting down from bus have to walk some distance up to footpath or road side in the midst of traffic at risk to life

5) At times buses halt away from bus stop for lack of space to halt causing great inconvenience and unsafe conditions for commuters.

6) Buses may skip bus stop causing hardships and delays to commuters

We had proposed an innovative bus bay design using the road side space for creating bus bay and suggested Ranade Inst. bus stop on FC road for trials, which was quite successful. We had taken the responsibility of coordination for setting up the bus bay and conducting trials. We got good cooperation from Traffic Police Deccan division, PMC and PMPML in the matter and the trials began on July 12,2012. The trials were successful and all above problems were overcome. It also resulted in much better bus driver and commuter discipline.

Considering the success of the scheme, we had requested PMC, Traffic Police and PMPML for replicating the bus bay design at other bus stops.

We are happy to see that PMC has begun road markings for bus bays on Karve road. However it is observed that simply providing road markings does not bring about desired results.It is obvious that physical segregation is a must for success of bus bay. Putting up traffic barricades for the purpose can only be a temporary arrangement which cannot be sustained for longer period.Thus the successful bus bay at Ranade Institute is not effectively operational anymore and the gains made have now been lost.

We request you to look into the matter urgently. PMC should make it a policy to provide bus bay at bus stops as per the successful bus bay design. Following should be provided –

a) Road markings with arrows

b) Bus bay sign boards

c) Sturdy bollards with cross bars or metal railings of suitable design at road side before and after bus stop (20 metres on entry side and 15 metres on exit side) - to prevent vehicle parking

d) Lane segregation from main traffic - for channelizing bus movement and proper bus docking at the stop

e) The Bus Stop at Sambhaji Park/Ganjwe Chowk etc has inbuilt design in Footpath itself to enter Bus Bay segregating from carriage way;however due to absence of sturdy segregation of suitable material and design at roadside,channelization is missing, buses continue to halt mid road creating danger to safety & obstruction to other traffic.

f)Ranade Instt design can be easily & successfully replicated on hundreds of major bus stops in the city.

Major bus stops should be covered in the first phase.

g)Phasewise time bound program be undertaken to make all bus stops safe in a year or two.

As clear access to bus stops for buses is a very vital requirement for efficient and safe operation of city bus service, it is imperative that adequate funds be allotted for the job on priority and work should start at the earliest.

B) All the efforts of PMC is going for toss as the Pmp Bus Drivers are either unable to halt the buses in bus bays or they just ignore the discipline and halt buses outside/away from bus bays whereever marked.

i) The drivers may be unable to enter the bus bays at the bus stops due to encroachments by nearby vendors/hawkers/residents or vehicles parked/stopping in bus bays- autos waiting for passengers, vehicles of shopkeepers/visitors/residents etc. OR

ii) The indisciplined pmp bus drivers , inspite there being no obstruction to enter bus bays, stops bus mid road away from / outside bus bay causing danger & inconvenience to all

The PMC, PMPML & POLICE need to act to resolve the problems:

a)The action must be taken by Pmc for encroachments, by Police for autos/vehicles parked-halting in bus bays, & by PMPML on negligent errant bus drivers.

b) The citizens can be appealed to click photos of such violations and send to respective authorities: re encroachments to Pmc, re autos/vehicles in bus bays to Police & re errant drivers to PMPML, who will have a system in place to swing into action. The actions/ fines system is in place from offenders. A part of it can be shred with informing citizens ( say Rs 100 each case) , its a win-win for all convenience and safety to citizens  & ready info & proof to Authorities without any effort or manpower deployment.

Media has from time to time & Pune Mirror today has carried full page relevant story on this.

Prompt & positive action is requested from all concerned.

Regards,

    jugal  rathi      vivek  velankar

P M P  P R A V A S I  M A N C H