District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla’s ultimatum to fall in line or face the music seems to have done the trick, as private bus operators ended their week-long boycott of the collectorate bus stop on Saturday morning.
The operators’ boycott of the bus stop, sandwiched between the civil station and the district panchayat office, had led to an altercation on Friday, after CPI activists questioned the move, saying it put hundreds of passengers, including civil station staff, through much hardship.
Subsequently, Mr. Safirulla intervened and warned operators of recommending the Regional Transport Authority to cancel the permits of buses that continued to boycott the stop.
A recent traffic reform banning private buses from parking at the collectorate bus stop following diversion of traffic to Infopark and Muvattupuzha through the route where the bus stop is located had led to the row. The order that private buses should park at the municipal bus station and pick up and drop passengers from the collectorate bus stop had met with stiff opposition from bus operators, leading to their eventual boycott of the stop.
The operators insisted on allowing up to three buses to park at the stop at a time, as was agreed in the past.
Congestion
However, the authorities turned this down, saying such an arrangement coupled with parking by private vehicles would cause congestion owing to the heavy rush on the route following the traffic diversion.
Meanwhile, the traffic police and the Motor Vehicles Department authorities are keeping a close watch over the movement of private buses on the route. According to bus operators, only one bus is now allowed to park at the stop at a time.