Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Vadgaon Sheri MLA Sunil Tingre on Tuesday demanded the removal of Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) lanes on Nagar Road in Pune.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Tingre said he had been continuously demanding the removal of BRTS lanes, which are causing traffic congestion and frequent accidents in the city. "After raising my voice in the state legislature to remove the BRTS lanes and after the order of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, the BRTS lane from Yerawada to Somnath Nagar Chowk was successfully removed. However, the BRTS lane from Somnath Nagar Chowk to Kharadi is still in place. A series of accidents continues on it," he added.
Tingre said a major traffic jam occurred after a tanker entered the BRTS lane on Monday night. "Due to this, the citizens of Chandan Nagar, Kharadi and Vadgaon Sheri areas who were going to work in the morning suffered," he added.
"The NCP demands that this partial and life-threatening BRTS lane be removed as soon as possible to prevent further accidents, traffic congestion, and the suffering of citizens. Otherwise, the municipal corporation and police administration should take note that a public movement will be launched against it," Tingre further said.
BRTS, a dedicated lane in the middle of the road for public transport buses, has failed to live up to its hype. Designed to alleviate traffic congestion and reduce the conflict between buses and other vehicles, it has succeeded in neither. The BRTS lanes on Nagar Road and some other locations were dismantled by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) in order to ease traffic.
However, in Pimpri-Chinchwad, PCMC Commissioner Shekhar Singh said the BRTS lanes won't be dismantled. "There is no question of doing away with BRTS lanes. We will never remove them," the PCMC chief said. In fact, he said all efforts were being made to strengthen BRTS and the entire public transport system. "There should be more buses on the road, more routes, and fewer private vehicles. We should encourage public buses and discourage private vehicles from coming onto the roads," Singh added.
