‘City Buses Ply on their Own Routes, Follow their Own Rules’- Activist Gerard Towers

‘City Buses Ply on their Own Routes, Follow their Own Rules’- Activist Gerard Towers

Mangaluru: About the city buses issues will be never ending- and in order to highlight some of the issues faced by the commuters and public, founder President of Naagarika Hitha Vedike, Gerard Towers addressing the media persons during a press meet held at Mangalore press club said, “Presently many city buses and a few service buses are violating the Route permit issued to each bus by not plying on their scheduled route and thus causing violation of traffic act and also putting in danger the life of commuters and general public. And in case of any accident, the Insurance companies refuse to compensate for taking a wrong road by the bus which violated the actual route”.

“This has been repeated mostly every day and even in spite of our complaints to the cops, they do a naatak of lodging cases for 1 or 2 days and the story repeats. Further, the passengers are also misguided by making them stand for hours in the bus stop, because many a time the buses don’t stop at these bus stops, thereby putting the commuters and the school children in hard times and inconveniences. There are hundreds of such incidences every day. Further many fights have taken place between two competitor buses, during which the public have become victims. Some of the license plates of the buses that have been violating the traffic rules have been noted down by me, as instructed to do so by traffic police officer- to mention a few, KA 19D 9661; KA 19AA 5056; KA 19D 7354; KA 19D 7355; KA 19C 3609; and KA 19C 2869 ” added Towers..

He further said, “The Vedike during many “Saarige Adalats” have taken these kinds of issues but the concerned traffic Officials forget them soon, and no action is taken. There is a doubt that a bus lobby is playing tricks from behind. When there is an accident we see small vehicles dumped outside the traffic Police stations but for our surprise, not a single bus which meets with a serious accident is kept in the yard for more than a few days (in spite of death caused). Regarding the foot-steps of these buses are so high, sometimes elderly people or disabled persons find it hard to get in or alight. For this, the bus owners gave the reason of potholes some years back. But now most of the roads are concretized and the foot board can be lowered to enable the commuters to get in.”

Speaking about the shrill horns, Towers said, “The shrill horns are a terrible nuisance especially to the pedestrians and the roadside Clinics, Schools and residential apartments. Finally it looks that there are two different laws in our Country, that is one law for the rich and the other for the poor. When the cops crack down on the buses that have shrill horns, they don’t remove the horns completely- just a portion of the horn is removed- and later the drivers fix them and once again blow them loud. The copies of all these complaints have already been submitted to the DC, DK and ACP traffic also to the Traffic Circle Inspector. If no action is taken by the concerned authorities, the Vedike through our lawyer will file a case in the court, and also a PIL. “. Sachin Kadri and Sujith were also present on the dais during the press meet.

Finally it looks that there are two different laws in our Country, that is one law for the rich and the other for the poor. When the cops crack down on the buses that have shrill horns, they don’t remove the horns completely- just a portion of the horn is removed- and later the drivers fix them and once again blow them loud. The copies of all these complaints have already been submitted to the DC, DK and ACP traffic also to the Traffic Circle Inspector. If no action is taken by the concerned authorities, the Vedike through our lawyer will file a case in the court, and also a PIL. “. Sachin Kadri and Sujith were also present on the dais during the press meet.

Added to what Gerard Towers had to say during the press meet, I also want to highlight other issues that the citizens face with the “Vayudootha Buses” and “Rakshasa Drivers”- It looks like the city bus drivers think that they own the city streets, where they can drive recklessly, knock down vehicles and pedestrians, injure or kill people as they like, pick or alight passengers where ever they feel like, park at any place according to their wish etc etc- and these days it is a nightmare with buses stopping anywhere and purposely delaying their departure forcing the passengers to crowd the buses. And the bad part is that the RTO or the traffic cops are not taking any actions against these law breaking bus drivers. Just cracking down on these guys once or twice a month will not stop their behaviour- the cops should carry on traffic checks every single day. Period.

Even though there have been regular complaints from commuters that the conductors are many times badly behaved, do not issue tickets or do not wear uniforms – that too has been ignored by the concerned traffic authorities. Some even complain that many of them even look as if they have imbibed the cup that cheers and the language that is heard in the confines of the buses is really bad. In spite of the traffic cops strictly instructing the drivers not to stop and pick passengers at non-designated bus stops, but seems like no one cares- you can see buses stopping opposite to Wenlock hospital to pick up passengers when they are not supposed to. Even the buses still stop opposite Syndicate Bank-Hampankatta, going towards Lighthouse Hill Road- and a cop posted nearby to see that no buses stop, doesn’t do a damn thing, instead will be chatting on his “Blackberry”? But even though the new bus stops are not notified, buses stop anywhere.

City bus owners seem to have godfathers. And if they do not, then how is it that they have the guts to blatantly park where they please, stop where and when they want? And have no qualms about stopping on turns, T junctions or halt at or near bus stops three-four at a time – one parked behind the other. What is even more appalling is that the authorities are not paying any attention to traffic congestion caused by illegal stops/parking by the buses. Sometimes the buses are parked in a row covering the entire bus stop, which does not allow commuters to move freely. The illegal parking of some buses forces other bus drivers to stop the bus in the middle of the road which affects other moving vehicles.

Some commuters complain that buses do not stop at their usual places. “The driver stops wherever he feels like. This has created a huge problem for commuters as we have to run a distance to catch the bus. Most of the times we end up missing our bus.” said Naveen, a daily bus commuter. Many of the bus stops are ill maintained and no buses stop there. “I don’t know why the government/MCC spends huge amount of money to build three to four shelters on a road and fails to maintain it. What is the point of having a bus shelter here when no one will be using it?”, said Melwyn, a St Aloysius College student. Many a time abandoned bus shelters are being used as a resting place by drunkards and young couples.

Another thing noticed in the city is that when schools can afford only a matador vans for transporting their students, they opt for big school buses?? What wrong with these schools?? They fleece students and parents of so much money and they compromise on their safety? And the school bus drivers have become a menace in Mangaluru. They drive like maniacs breaking all road rules and honk like mad in quiet areas. Specially, public school buses are notorious for reckless driving. Some sort of a safety regulation should be imposed for school buses. It’s about time that the RTO and traffic department authorities check on these bus drivers and see that they follow the rules, if not fine them severely so that they can learn by their mistakes.

If you plan on supporting Naagarika Hita Vedike in their fight against issues pertaining to city buses, or other civic issues you can call activist Gérard Towers :9448216772