PUNE: The exit route for 250 Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) buses from the Swargate depot has been changed to reduce pressure on the busy Shankarsheth Road where huge traffic jams are the order of the day.
The Pune division of MSRTC made the change effective on Thursday in a bid to streamline the bus traffic and to reduce the stress on Shankarsheth Road which, according to many commuters, is caused by exiting MSRTC buses.
Buses going to places like Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Bhor are being redirected. They are taking the exit/entry gate located on the Pune-Satara Road rather than drive out from the depot via the main exit leading to Shankarsheth Road near the vehicular subway and the flyover.
"Once they exit, they can drive straight towards Katraj and reach their respective destinations," an MSRTC official told TOI.
The official said that some more buses will be redirected in the same way soon. "They will exit the depot from the Satara Road side and can reach Laxminarayan Chowk and then take a U-turn to reach Swargate Chowk. By doing this, the buses will not drive directly on to the narrow road. We are expecting to implement the plan after some studies soon," the official added.
The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) has bus shelters along the road where city buses stop to pick up and drop passengers.
"The PMPML buses are a problem too. There are two bus shelters right in front of their office on Shankarsheth Road and with many buses stopping every minute, the other vehicles have to stop too which causes a snarl. The PMPML needs to study the two bus stops' location and another stop near the MSRTC's Swargate depot," Anand Kavitkar, a daily commuter, said.
PMPML authorities told TOI that while they would analyse the bus stops' location, removing them was a difficult job. "If we move the bus stops, we need to relocate them to a place nearby. Unfortunately, there is no space on the road for such a relocation. The bus stops near the PMPML office are used by commuters to exit a bus rather than to start a journey. Many people finish their journey at these stops as they have to go to the MSRTC stand or catch buses from the stand across the chowk. While the MSRTC employees were on strike, the traffic jams were not happening. It started after the strike ended and the MSRTC began full operations. This shows that the main reason for the traffic mess is the MSRTC buses," a PMPML official said.
