Srinagar, Oct 16: The slow pace of mini buses not only puts passengers to inconvenience but has cascading effect on the entire traffic flow on routes they ply on. The City centre stretch between Poloview and Jehangir Chowk is no exception to this problem. In fact it seems to be facing the worst while Traffic police over the years has failed to streamline the system.

THE ‘SNAIL’S PACE’
 The mini buses ply at alleged snail’s pace thereby affecting the entire flow of traffic on the busy stretch in the City centre.  The problem worsens while travelling from Poloview to Lal Chowk and the situation is worst on Amira Kadal –Hari Singh High Street stretch.
 A beeline of mini-buses is seen crawling slowly –looking for passengers. This raises a question mark on the claims of the Traffic police that frequent halting of vehicles was not being allowed.
 It takes a mini bus 15 to 20 minutes to travel from Poloview upto Lal Chowk. Given the single lane traffic on the route, it hampers entire flow and travellers are left with no options but to be dependant on the mini bus convoy.

PASSENGERS IRKED
 While those stuck behind mini buses are pestered lot, the ones travelling by the public transport are no better either. The passengers said there considerable time goes unduly waste in the travel. “It takes us 45 minutes to cover mere mile long distance from Poloview to Batamaloo. It seems that state government has no concern towards Aam Aadmi but is only concerned about meeting demands of transporters who  frequently go for passenger fare hike,” said a government school teacher.

ROADSIDE PARKING OF VEHICLES
 Vehicles parked along busy road worsen the problem. Even though the traffic police said no roadside parking would be allowed in the City centre expect for the designated stops, violations continue to pop up. This compounds the flow of vehicles in the congested area.

SCHOOL BUS ISSUE
 Buses ferrying children for a leading school in the City centre of Lal Chowk operate from nearby Mushtaq Memorial Press Enclave only to further the mess.
 At the school opening and closing times, the traffic movement remains badly affected for around half-an-hour in the heart of the summer capital.

BUS DRIVERS SPEAK
 A group of bus drivers while admitting “snail’s pace and frequent halting” pleaded that there were no designated stops on the entire route. “When there are no bus bays how can we be fined for taking halt anywhere?” they questioned. 

STREAMLINING BADLY REQUIRED
 Given the fact that only the Poloview – Lal Chowk stretch in City centre has two way traffic movement in place, there is more of a need to ensure smooth flow of vehicles. But the ground situation reveals that Traffic Police is doing little to ensure it.

THE EMBARRASSMENT
 The police and its traffic wing have failed to streamline the system despite the fact that the scene is messy right outside Police Station Kothi Bagh while the main office of Traffic police is at a stone’s throw distance from there.

TRAFFIC POLICE SPEAKS
 When contacted the SP Traffic Haseeb Ur Rehman said: “We try to ensure smooth flow of traffic but such scenes do take place at closing and opening timings of schools.” He appealed the “public transport passengers to get in or out of the buses only at designated stops.”
 The SP however assured that the matter would be seriously looked into.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 16 Oct 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 16 Oct 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 17 Oct 2012 00:00:00 IST