CHENNAI: It is a nightmare for commuters at the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus in Koyambedu everyday. People generally think that the Metro Rail works and narrow roads were the primary cause of the perennial traffic congestion in the area, but this is not the entire truth. Motorists who are often forced to wait for hours together at traffic signals blame the police for traffic mismanagement, without realising that the real culprit for this chaos is the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA).The CMDA, which is responsible for management of the moffusil bus terminus, has failed to streamline the parking of buses inside the terminal, resulting in utter chaos. The stagnation of traffic near the entry gate of CMBT on Karumari Amman street, (opposite the Koyambedu police station) is due to haphazard parking of the buses inside. This results in a ripple effect throwing traffic out of gear on 100 Feet Road, Poonamallee High Road, Thirumangalam junction and the Maduravoyal junction.If there is a block inside the mofussil bus terminus, the traffic will, as a result, get blocked for hours together from Vadapalani in the West up to Thirumangalam in the East. Two traffic policemen have to spend nearly half-an-hour inside the terminus to clear up the congestion, said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity. “We spend close to 5-6 hours a day inside the bus terminus trying to clear the congestion, with no help coming from transport department,” said a Sub inspector.In summer, around 4,000 government buses belonging to 22 transport corporations from various parts of the State come to the terminals to drop off passengers in six parking bays allocated for them. According to the procedure, the buses should leave the terminals after dropping the passengers, but they all park the vehicles inside the terminals.“The main problem is due to the chaos in the first parking bay. In the first four bays, which are originally allocated to SETC Tiruchy buses, other area buses like the ones routed to Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari and other Southern districts park their vehicles here. Meanwhile, SETC Tiruchy buses park on the rear side of the bay, blocking the movement of other vehicles coming through the entry road, into the bus stand,” said the traffic police officer.The bus drivers have liaison with the hotels put up inside the bus terminus to help them make money parking in the first bay. The place allocated for Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari and other Southern district buses are now occupied by the Karnataka buses, said the officer.Apart from this, there is no need to have a petrol bunk inside the terminus, which has only added to the traffic congestion as vehicles again pile up to fill petrol before leaving the bus stand. In the name of saving 10 paise/litre by filling petrol here, they waste `10 on petrol while taking the vehicle outside,” he said. Even at the existing station, the equipment is not maintained properly as four out of the six fueling machines are out of order.“If we try to apprehend the bus drivers to move their vehicles, they won’t listen to us. Instead, they threaten us saying that they will take up the issue with the union,” said the disgruntled traffic police officer.As a temporary solution, the traffic police have already suggested to the CMDA to shift the SETC buses and other buses destined for Southern districts to bay one, so that entry road will not get blocked due to parking congestion. Even the new Transport Minister, V Senthil Balaji, visited the bus terminus and examined the problem soon after taking charge. The government should find an alternative site for parking for mofussil buses. Till then, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority officials should work towards solving the problem, the policemen felt.In spite of repeated attempts to contact, CMDA officials were unavailable for comment.
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