COIMBATORE: The ongoing renovation works at the omni bus stand on Sathy Road are posing trouble to motorists. Smooth flow of traffic is hindered as buses halt outside the stand.
The bus stand is located near the Gandhipuram flyover in Ward 48 of the central zone. It is one of the busiest bus termini in the city and is maintained by the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC).
While the government buses have a terminus at Singanallur, Gandhipuram, Ukkadam and Mettupalayam Road, the private buses from across the city are operated from the Omni Bus Stand.
The bus terminus, which is spread across about 1.5 acre, is facing a lot of issues due to space crunch, lack of amenities and rising number of private buses. After the Gandhipuram flyover connecting the Dr Nanjappa Road with the Sathy Main Road, via the GP Signal, was completely built, the officials planned to shift the stand to a different location considering the increasing traffic congestion.
However, the plan was dropped after the announcement of the Vellalore Integrated Bus Terminus (IBT) project. As the bus operators and public awaited the shifting of the bus stand, the Vellalore IBT project came to a screeching halt.
In this situation, the CCMC officials planned to give a facelift to the omni bus stand. The works started a few months ago, giving rise to traffic congestion as the civic body didn’t provide a suitable alternative place for the private bus operators to stop and board passengers.
“Although the bus stand is under renovation and the facility is completely closed at present, the bus operators and travel agencies continue to stop their buses outside the facility. Due to this there has been traffic congestion on the road,” said G Siddharth, a motorist from Ganapathy.
Speaking to TNIE, CCMC Commissioner M Sivaguru Prabakaran said, “We had asked the private bus operators to use the land near Kavundampalayam to board the passengers until the renovation works is completed. However, some are not following it. We shall check with the bus operators and take necessary action.” The Rs 3.5 crore renovation project is under the Credit Guarantee Fund (CGF) scheme.