The Tallah Bridge bound buses are to follow diverted routes from midnight of 3 January following closure of the bridge for demolition. As per the latest diversions, the buses are to follow a two way traffic system of Belgachia Bridge for Southbound buses and Chitpore Lockgate Bridge for Northbound buses.
Buses from B.T Road heading towards the South will avail Belgachia Bridge to come towards Shyam Bazar and come further. On the return journey, these buses will take a left turn towards Bagh Bazar and towards Lockgate Bridge to Chiriya More or B.T.Road and Dunlop. Notably, earlier, the bridge was expected to be closed for vehicles from 1 January.
The buses were to follow oneway traffic system. However, a meeting was held between the bus operators and officials of the state transport department yesterday on the finalisation of the route after the closure of the bridge. The state transport department is to issue the notification in this week, according to sources in the department.
The implementation of diverted route, according to the bus operators, will involve covering longer distance of around three to four kilometres in comparison to the original route. The bus owners, who claimed to be reeling under losses already, are considering plans of a fare hike after receiving the notification.
“In the present structure, commuters can travel up to four kilometres for rupees seven while 12 kilometres for rupees nine, pointed out a member of the North Kolkata Bus Mini Bus Owners’ Association. “In the districts, one has to pay rupees seven for travelling up to four kilometres but 70 paisa per kilometres for travelling beyond that. Hence, a commuter in the districts has to pay rupees twelve for travelling upto 12 kilometres, which is three rupees more than that of the city’s fare. Therefore, we are planning to demand the fare structure as applicable in the districts after implementation of the diverted route.”