INFANTRY ROAD: More pre-fixed auto stands, 16 in all, will come up in the city, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M A Saleem said.
“Till about two years ago, we had quite a few of them, but now, most of them are defunct,” he told City Express. These booths will be restored and more will be set up, Saleem said.
Adarsh Auto Drivers’ Union president M Manjunath said that while this is a welcome move, booths and driver details need to be regularly monitored by the traffic cops. “Passengers feel safer in pre-paid autos. You need a dedicated person to handle it,” he added.
In addition to the city railway station, bus stands and other commercial hubs, booths should be set up in neighbourhoods where a huge section of the IT community lives, he observed.
“Like Koramangala, Sarjapur and Electronics City because they often commute by auto,” he said.
Auto lanes
Dedicated lanes for autos were introduced last October as an experiment. Four roads — Sheshadri Road, Kasturba Road, Queen’s Road and one in Jayanagar, near South End Circle — have barricaded space. In some places, these barricades are broken, so are they working?
“The purpose of these lanes is to inculcate lane discipline — that slower-moving vehicles are driven on the left lane,” Saleem said.
“Once they get used to following this on these roads, they will practise it on other roads too.” Most city roads, however, are not big enough to accommodate such dedicated lanes, he feels.
Autos should ideally go at a slower pace than other vehicles. “The speed limit for autos in the city is 40 kmph, but it’s 50 kmph for other vehicles,” he said. “And auto drivers looking for passengers slow every one else down.”
Since they were put in place, auto lanes have been a sore spot with drivers. “Instead of barricading them, they can be marked with a yellow line. So if one auto breaks down, it won’t jam the movement of all the others behind,” Manjunath said.
As the lanes are narrow, navigating through the potholes is much harder, he further says.
“The cops know that this is a problem and so does the BBMP, but neither sees the repairs through,” he rued.