BMTC bus stops to have corresponding auto stands

BMTC bus stops to have corresponding auto stands

The Hindu

The move is to safeguard the interests of commuters

# Autorickshaw drivers have to park their vehicles only at these designated stands
# Autorickshaw stands to be set up near all major malls, cinemas

BANGALORE: To ensure better transport facility to the public and also to rein in "loitering" autorickshaw drivers, the traffic police are setting up corresponding autorickshaw stands near all the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus stops across the city.

Autorickshaw drivers have to park their vehicles only at these designated stands. Any driver found loitering at other places in search of passengers would be booked by the police, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M.N. Reddi told The Hindu on Monday.

Autorickshaw stands would be located close to the bus stops so that a person alighting from a BMTC bus can easily find an autorickshaw to reach his further destination or vice versa, Mr. Reddi said.

Such stands have already come up near 160 bus stops, mainly in the southern and northern parts of the city. Signboards have been installed at these places. Autorickshaw stands will be opened even near all major malls, cinemas and traffic-generating points in the city, Mr. Reddi said. The setting up of autorickshaw stands is part of several measures that are being initiated by the traffic police in association with the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) to safeguard the commuters' interests.

In view of the increasing complaints against autorickshaw drivers, the RTA has recently passed an order that the Section 16 of the Karnataka Motor Vehicles (KMV) Rules, 1989, will be one of the conditions governing the autorickshaw permit. The Section 16 of the KMV Rules deals with the duties of drivers of autorickshaws and motor-cabs.

According to one of the 17 clauses of the said Section, "a driver shall not allow his cab, when it is not engaged, remain at any place other than a stand appointed for the purpose and shall not loiter for the purpose of his cab being hired in any public place."

Mr. Reddi said they would start enforcing the said rule from the first week of October. The police will levy fine on the drivers who do not park their autorickshaws at the designated stands and loiter to pick passengers. If the driver repeats the violation, the police will impose a higher fine and even write to the Transport Department to cancel his permit, he said.

To sensitise the drivers about the new rule, the police will distribute one lakh pamphlets in various languages and run advertisements in the media. The police have held meetings with autorickshaw drivers' unions in this regard, Mr. Reddi said.

The KMV Rules also says that a driver "shall always park his vehicle in a queue at notified places and move the cab as and when vacancies occur. The driver shall not prevent or attempt to prevent the first cab in the queue from being hired."