New ISBT in Shimla Causes Chaos

Worsening Traffic at New ISBT, Shimla

It’s been some time since I wrote about the worsening situation of traffic in the city of Shimla. Since then a lot of things have changed, the most important being the much awaited opening of the new Inter State Bus Terminus or the new bus stand as the locals refer it as. The new ISBT not only feels and looks good but has also contributed a lot to easing the heavy vehicle traffic on the city roads. However, the peripheral location of the same has created a new problem which though in its nascent stages right now could become monstrous if not taken care of. What I am referring to is the huge pileup of passengers and buses at the bye-pass point with roads leading up to the city and new ISBT. This is the location from where the highway coming in from Solan bifurcates to make way for Shimla city and the new bus station. This is no bus stop or a scheduled pick up point but even then most of the passengers coming in from the city to catch a bus tend to board the same and this huge load of passengers at this point causes almost all buses to make stop here. The result is a commotion with countless passengers, at least two to three buses waiting to go on and few more making ways for the ISBT. Any space left is then occupied the small vehicle traffic plying on the highway and the shuttle buses operating between the new and the old bus station.

In addition to the chaos caused by the buses waiting to pick up passengers at this location, the new bus station has meant that a larger number of buses frequent between the two bus stations. Now, all these buses when making the sharp ninety degree turn, tend to go to the wrong side of the road to make space for themselves creating even more chaos. Just a few months into the opening of this new ISBT, we have a situation where traffic tends to go out of hands and total ruckus in our hands. If not taken care of soon, we might end up turning this point into a bottleneck similar to the one outside Ambala bus station where a flyover had to be constructed to ease the situation as it had been too late to repair the damage done.