Coimbatore Corporation delays installation of bus shelters on Avinashi road

CHENNAI: Despite months passing after the promise of erecting bus shelters along Avinashi Road in Coimbatore, the public continue to await the installation, which has failed to take off till now.

According to a report in The Hindu, despite removing many existing shelters during the construction of a new flyover, the civic authorities have not started any work on the new shelters that were to be constructed shortly after. The lack of proper bus shelters has left commuters exposed to heat and rain, causing a lot of inconvenience to those travelling by buses.

The Coimbatore Corporation had submitted a plan in March to establish 32 shelters through an advertisement-based funding model. Following this, they identified 15 locations from Uppilipalayam to Goldwins and 17 locations for the return journey.

Officials noted that since the plan conflicted with the proposed Coimbatore Metro rail line, they had decided to drop the idea of putting new bus shelters on the left side to avoid future conflicts.

When the corporation authorities floated tenders the first time for the proposed shelters on the opposite side, there were no private takers, so the civic body has stated that they are revising the tender specifications before launching the process again.

Activists and members of the public have voiced their disappointment over the delays, noting that the civic body using the metro project as a reason to postpone public infrastructure was unfair. They requested the authorities to start work on installing bus shelters at the earliest on Avinashi Road.