Rick lane trial stuck in space jam

Rick lane trial stuck in space jam
Deccan Herald

Four months after dedicated autorickshaw lanes were introduced on select roads in Bangalore, the City’s traffic police machinery is grappling with a hard reality – there are not many roads where the system could work.


This is one experiment that could run out of lab space. Four months after dedicated autorickshaw lanes were introduced on select roads in Bangalore, the City’s traffic police machinery is grappling with a hard reality — there are not many roads where the system could work.

At present, eight roads have these dedicated lanes. The traffic police, however, is stopping short of expansion plans. “Before planning more such lanes, we have to look into their feasibility. The City doesn’t have many roads conducive for these lanes,” M A Saleem, DCP (Traffic) — East told Deccan Herald.

However, enforcement of lane discipline on the eight roads has itself proved inept. On all the identified roads under the plan, autos share lane space with two-wheelers and cars. The presence of policemen around the pre-paid autorickshaw counter on MG Road has of late ensured that some auto-rickshaw drivers stick to their lane. But again, they come in the way of motorists moving left through Kamaraj Road.

The police had identified the roads, based on prerequisites including adequate road width and curbs on right turns. The idea was to streamline the slow-moving three-wheelers on a dedicated lane so that other vehicles picked up pace. Kempe Gowda Road was identified because it has a long stretch and there are no turns till the Mysore Bank Circle. “The same goes with Cubbon Road, that has only one turn and Queens Road, where there are no turns between the Mahatma Gandhi statue and Minsk Square,” Mr Saleem said.

“It’s tough to stick to the lane during peak hours. It’s impossible to overtake, even if the auto ahead moves really slow or breaks down. And when the auto lanes are relatively clutter-free, bikes and cars enter the lanes,” said Manjunatha, an auto-rickshaw driver.

According to Saleem, motorbikes or cars entering auto lanes is not an issue as there is no “hard ban” on such intrusions. “Dedicated lanes were proposed to make auto-drivers follow lane discipline as a habit. Since they were launched in a limited way, we can’t quantify their impact yet,” he said.

BUSSING BY LANE

“Auto lanes, as a concept, can work but the trick is to use them with discretion. Since the City has many cross-roads, autos have to take frequent turns anyway. The focus should be on dedicated bus lanes. A bus takes road space of around six autos. If the bus movement is streamlined, many of our traffic issues could be sorted out. On auto lanes, there’s also the issue of limited enforcement. The police can look at options like camera-monitoring.”

Prof M N Sreehari, advisor and consultant to Government for Traffic