Yellow box initiative resumes at bus stops in Pune

PUNE: The city traffic police has asked the

Pune Municipal Corporation

to ensure that yellow boxes are painted in front of all Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited bus stops. Also, the traffic police has sought that the boxes be marked as “no parking” areas.


Public relations officer of the transport body Subhash Gaikwad said that such boxes have already been painted in front of some bus stops. The work is being done by the civic body.

The Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (

PMPML

) has close to 5,000 bus stops across the city.

Deputy commissioner

of police (traffic) Pankaj Deshmukh told TOI that the traffic police had come across many complaints about PMPML buses not halting in front of bus stops, which caused a major problem for commuters as well as other vehicular traffic.

“Bus drivers said that the passengers spilt out on the road instead of standing at the bus stops which forced them to park the buses almost in the middle of the road. We tried to create a bus bay-like arrangement with the help of barricades. But these barricades need to be installed/removed manually, which is a problem. Lastly, we requested the Pune Municipal Corporation (

PMC

) to paint the yellow boxes. Our men will keep a close eye on them and any other vehicle parked in the box will face action,” Gaikwad said.

In 2017, the PMPML had tried painting yellow boxes in front of bus stops. But the effort failed to yield the desired results.

“The markings are very visible now and ‘No Parking’ is written in bold. The police are keeping a close eye on the arrangement. We hope that soon the PMC will paint the yellow boxes at all bus stops in the city limits,” Deshmukh said.

Akshay Joshi, a daily commuter, said that the movement of PMPML buses required improvement. “In the late evenings they just jump signals. Parking in front of bus stops is a major issue and it leads to traffic jams on many roads. Swargate is one such area that witnesses this problem,” he said.