The Mangaluru City Traffic Police in consultation with the district administration and the Mangaluru City Corporation have decided to shift the private city bus stand to State Bank bus terminal when operators resume services on July 1.
Space near Rao & Rao Circle where goods vans and contract carriage buses were being parked has been earmarked for city buses as their starting point. Hitherto, the road between Hamilton Circle and Rao & Rao Circle was being used as the starting point for city buses.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M.A. Nataraj told The Hindu that the district administration has given in-principle approval for the change on trial basis. The move is to facilitate making Maidan Road surrounding the central business district one-way from Clock Tower to Clock Tower in clockwise direction and to ensure uninterrupted movement of vehicles.
Mr. Nataraj said that not more than 10-15 city buses will be parked at the existing facility at a time to drop and pick up passengers as buses leave one after the other within about five minutes. The same number of buses can be accommodated inside the State Bank terminal at the identified space. Buses will enter the terminal from Rao & Rao Circle and exit from the usual exit point.
The police have also told service and long-distance express bus operators not to park their buses beyond 30 minutes at the terminal. Some long-distance buses having buffer time between arrival and departure are parked inside the terminal for long hours, while some even undertake minor servicing/repairs. This will be avoided in the coming days, Mr. Nataraj said.
Mr. Nataraj said that the move will help people inter-change between city and service buses and avoid walking a distance for the purpose.
While some city bus operators were apprehensive of the development, Dakshina Kannada Bus Owners Association president Dilraj Alva said that the association supported this trial operations hoping for a positive outcome.
Mayor Premanand Shetty, who inspected the spot on Wednesday, has promised to provide amenities, including concrete/bitumen flooring and street lights, once the system stabilises. For the present, crushed stone powder has been spread over the road surface after levelling land, he said.