The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Crackdown on errant buses in city

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Sunday, Jul 06, 2008
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Crackdown on errant buses in city

S. Anil Radhakrishnan

City traffic police rope in the public and bus owners

Two private buses booked for permit violation
10 autos booked for collecting excess fare

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The strategy to rope in the public and the private bus owners to check over-speeding of private buses and skipping of uneconomical stretches of the route has started paying dividends with the traffic police booking five errant buses plying in the capital on Saturday.

The buses – three for over-speeding and two for permit violation – were booked on the basis of complaints from the public and private bus operators. The buses were taken to the traffic police station on completion of the trip and fined, B. Varghese, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Traffic (South), told The Hindu.

The buses booked for permit violation had skipped stretches of the sanctioned route. The three buses booked for over-speeding, including one operating to Vattiyoorkavu, were fined Rs.1,000 each. The action comes in the wake of the decisions taken at the meeting of the owners of the private buses operating in the capital on Friday.

Time schedule

Mr. Varghese said ‘patta books’ to enforce the time schedule of the private buses had already been placed at main terminal points. The driver will have to enter the time in the book and sign. The books will soon be placed in the city bus stands at East Fort. The traffic police personnel will be posted to ensure compliance.

The police personnel posted at traffic points have been asked to monitor the private buses. The patrolling teams will carry out random check to ensure that the time schedule is followed by buses.

The private bus operators have been asked to ensure that the drivers do not indulge in over-speeding. Steps will be taken to cancel the permit of the buses that indulge in over-speeding and cause fatal road accident. The licence of the driver will also be suspended.

Steps have been taken to cancel the permit of the bus and the driving licence of the driver of the private bus that was involved in the recent accidents at the PMG Junction and Thirumala.

It is the duty of the driver and the conductor to ensure that all commuters had boarded the vehicle.

The badge and licence of the conductor will be cancelled if it is found that conductor’s negligence caused mishap while the bus was in motion.

Travelling on the footboard of the buses will also not be entertained.

Meanwhile, a team led by the Circle Inspector, Traffic (South) V. Rakesh Kumar booked 10 autorickshaws on Saturday for collecting excess fare and for refusing to go for short distances.

In the case of a tourist from Jaipur, the excess fare collected by the autorickshaw driver was sent by money order to his address.

For action

The public can bring to the notice the over-speeding of private buses, permit violations and fleecing by autorickshaw drivers and refusal to go for short distances to the traffic police over telephones 0471-1099, 1090, 2558724 and 2558726 for prompt action.

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