Despite traffic police presence and routine challan exercises, scores of unregulated auto-rickshaws and e-rickshaws parked outside the Sector 52 Metro station are causing a bottleneck on Captain Shashi Kant Marg, an important arterial road.
A police officer said on the condition of anonymity, “Due to unregulated e-rickshaws and no parking facility for auto-rickshaws, it slows down the entire road traffic during peak hours. There is only room for 20 to 30 auto-rickshaws, but more than 150 are parked outside the Metro station because it is the intersection where Noida Metro’s Aqua line meets Delhi Metro.”
“The route between his home and office is barely 25 minutes, but due to illegal parking outside the restaurants, the queue of vehicles at the fuel station, and scores of auto-rickshaws, the commute extends to more than one hour,” said Avnish Kumar, a resident of Sector 77 who commutes daily from his home to Kaushambhi.
“Due to heavy traffic congestion on that route, I started going to my office by bike because it is more convenient than driving a car,” said Kumar adding, “The service lane near the Sector 51 Metro station—Aqua line—remains empty as all the e-rickshaw gathered on the main road, obstructing the entire road traffic.”
“On Wednesday, traffic police seized four auto-rickshaws and issued nine challans during routine checking against illegal parking outside the Metro station,” said CP Mishra, traffic inspector, Circle 4.
“Five traffic police personnel, including a traffic sub-inspector, remain deployed on that route to ensure smooth traffic, but due to the large number of cars, traffic slows during peak hour,” said inspector Mishra, adding, “The auto drivers said that they earn relatively more from commuters at Sector 52 Metro station as compared to other Metro stations because some commuters here take autos for Greater Noida West and pay a good amount.”
“To relieve traffic congestion, the area should be declared a no-e-rickshaw zone like Sector 18, Atta Market,” a police officer said.
Chaudhary Om Prakash Gujjar, president of the Noida auto union, said there are 19,000 autorickshaws in Gautam Budh Nagar but no authorised parking. “The Sector 52 Metro station is one of the busiest Metro stations in Noida. We believe that strictly enforcing lane rule and barricades the lane will end the chaos and traffic jam there.”
Thousands of commuters use the Blue Line’s Sector 52 station and the Aqua Line’s Sector 51 station to get to work. The Sector 51 Metro station sees nearly 17,000 commuters daily, while the Sector 52 Metro station sees 45,000 daily commuters.
