The Hindu 29.03.2013
New bus shelters in added areas soon
Bus stops in newly added areas are likely to get new bus shelters.
Initiatives
to this effect were recommended by the subcommittee on infrastructure
improvement and promotion of non-motorised transport of the Chennai
Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) at its third meeting on
Thursday.
A study of all lacunae in the existing bus
route infrastructure such as bus shelters will be done by Chennai
Corporation with the support of MTC. The meeting was chaired by the
Corporation Commissioner.
The civic body is likely to
overcome the existing “legal challenges in finalising tenders” this
summer and work on bus shelters is likely to be completed in many of the
bus stops by monsoon.
There are more than 2,000 bus
stops served by the MTC, but around 1,000 bus stops do not have adequate
shelters. The lacunae are mainly because of the challenges pertaining
to authorisation of the bus shelters by the land-owning agencies of bus
routes. Most of the bus route roads are owned and maintained by the
Chennai Corporation and the bus shelters too have formally been handed
over by the MTC. Yet only around 1,150 bus shelters are found to be
under the control of the Corporation across the 15 zones.
A
chunk of the bus shelters are under litigation. The proposal to
commission 642 modern bus shelters made last year too has been stalled
because of legal hurdles and inadequate response from contractors.
The
Corporation had earlier authorised Laqshya Media to install modern bus
shelters at 99 locations of which the company has completed work on 72.
The company has put up the facilities on a BOT basis for a period of 10
years. It would pay the civic body a little over Rs. 2 crore every year.
Chennai Corporation sources said work on 27 bus shelters could not be
commissioned because of traffic diversions for metrorail work in the
city.
The sub committee on Thursday also stressed the
need for “green signal” from Traffic Police to implement pedestrian
plaza around Omandurar Estate and Mylapore Tank.
The declaration of pedestrian plaza will also require traffic changes and new locations for many bus stops.
Study of existing bus route infrastructure will also be conducted.