Swargate and Katraj BRTS corridor bus-stop doors, a risky proposition
During peak hours, morning and evening, passengers crowd the bus stations on the Swargate and Katraj BRTS route and as the automatic doors are always open. The risk of someone falling onto the road is high, as happened at the Padmavati bus station on Sunday
PUNE It’s a daily risk for passengers travelling on the Swargate and Katraj BRTS corridor as the automatic doors at bus stops on this route are not functioning.
Which means passengers have to use their own judgement of when to get on, and off, a bus – their lives in the hands of the bus driver’s awareness of the same.
Officials of the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limted (PMPML) claim that daily, at least 10,000 passengers travel this route, most of whom are office goers. During peak hours, morning and evening, passengers crowd the bus stations and as the automatic doors are always open. The risk of someone falling onto the road is high, as happened at the Padmavati bus station on Sunday.
“I was waiting for the bus to go to Swargate and as there was crowd and my leg slipped. Luckily no bus was coming. This needs to be changed and PMC should make proper safety arrangements for passengers,” said Sagar Abnawe, the commuter who slipped and fell.
This 5.5 km stretch was revamped recently and there are seven bus stations on this route, which traverses residential areas.
PMPML traffic manager Dattatray Zende said, “The safety arrangements at all the bus stations have been made from our side and its the duty of PMC to see if these doors need repairing. Still, we will take a follow up of this issue and get the automatic doors operating.”