By Kamiya Mohan Jani
Commuter’s woes never seem to get over and this time it is passengers
traveling by Bus No. 93 Ltd who are upset with the BEST authorities.
This bus, which takes Govandi-Mantralaya route, has been the topic
of discussions ever since the authorities decided to change its route.
The bus coming from Chembur Colony use to take a route to Mantralaya
via Shivaji Park but from March 1, a small diversion in the route has
taken place and now it goes via Bhavani Shankar road (Dadar), leaving
commuters planning to go towards Shivaji park in the lurch. The bus
route has been the same but this sudden diversion took passengers by
surprise.
“I was quite surprised when the bus took a right turn at Dadar.
First I thought I might have boarded the wrong bus but then I realised
that the bus has changed its route. I was wondering why?” says Kishore
Lala, a resident of Navjeevan Society.
Passengers, whose destination is Shivaji Park, now have to get down
at Dadar or take a cab up till Shivaji Park. “It is very inconvenient
for us, since no bus from Chembur colony goes straight to Shivaji Park.
We either have to go the Eastern Express Highway for another bus or
spend an extra amount on taxi,” says a commuter.
Not only this, passengers traveling to Mantralaya have been
complaining that because of the diversion, the bus takes an extra time
of about 15-20 minutes since that area is choc-a-bloc with traffic. “I
go in the bus that comes prior to the one I generally use to take, so
that I can reach my office on time,” says Nisha Vazirani, an employee
of Films Division at Tardeo.
When contacted the BEST PRO, Meena Dabholkar, says that it is a
very small diversion and needed to be taken for passenger’s
convenience. “According to the traffic survey, there use to be a lot of
passenger traffic at the bus stop opposite Plaza theatre. We have
diverted the route so that these passengers could get into a bus, which
was not too crowded. As it is the capacity of the bus was not utilized
properly,” she explained.
Link: http://www.chemburghatkoparplus.com/fullStory.asp?articleID=CGP8ART5142006