…but with no bus stops, catching a ride means dodging past high-speed cars

Ghaziabad: In the absence of any designated stops, both private and govt buses pick up and drop off passengers on the DME and NH-9, where vehicles are not allowed to stop. As a result, people are often found trudging across the speedway, lugging bags and suitcases in their hands and negotiating vehicles cruising at 80-100kmph.Buses originating from Anand Vihar ISBT stop arbitrarily near UP Gate, Model Town, CISF cut, Vijay Nagar junction and Chijarishi to pick up passengers. Haphazardly parked autorickshaws and e-rickshaws only exacerbate the congestion.Neeraj Singh, who takes a bus to his hometown in Bulandshahr every Friday, told TOI that he prefers to jump a divider on the DME near his house in Sector 62 to catch a bus, than make a 10km journey in the evening rush hour to Anand Vihar ISBT.“I can save nearly an hour’s time this way. And it’s not just me. Several people from Khora, Indirapuram and other nearby areas jump the divider to take outstation buses from Model Town,” he said.Indirapuram resident Rajkumar, who drives through this chaos every evening while returning from Delhi, said scores of people standing along the DME — some chasing buses and others flagging down vehicles — bring the traffic to a crawl on these stretches. “Bus drivers swerve or brake to avoid hitting pedestrians, and it often leads to accidents on the expressway. If you honk, these jaywalkers or people waiting to catch buses refuse to give way,” he said. UPSRTC bus driver Sahdev Kumar said it was easy to blame buses for stopping on the DME. “We know there are no designated bus stands at Model Town, Lal Kuan, Dasna and Bhojpur. But every day hundreds of passengers brave the oncoming traffic, sun, sweat, rain and dust and wait on the DME to take buses, some are with kids, others with luggage. We stop out of humanitarian concern,” he said.Kesari Nandan, the regional manager of UPSRTC Ghaziabad, couldn’t agree more. “Nearly 650 roadways buses run from Kaushambi depot every day. These buses travel to Meerut and other cities in UP and neighbouring areas. The roadways buses pick up commuters from the designated bus stands. The UPSRTC also has a mandate to pick up passengers stranded on the way, even if they are not designated stands. This is to facilitate the commuters,” he said.Residents of nearby areas say a bus stand, possibly at Model Town, could go a long way to check this melee. Narendra of Khora believes a bus stop with digital boards mentioning their timings could phase out the crowd. “Time and again we have conducted drives and imposed penalties on buses and vehicles that stop randomly on the speedways to pick up passengers, but it hasn’t helped. Recently, we also wrote to NHAI and they too agreed that a bus stand and a designated lane was a possible solution. The question, however, remains when they will construct it,” additional DCP (traffic) Piyush Singh said.An NHAI official said they would look into the matter and take suitable action to address it soon.
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