In Pune, two-wheelers defy rules, put pedestrians at risk as they turn footpaths into roads

At the Pune University junction which witnesses the highest traffic volumes in the city, the carriage width has shrunk due to construction work on the double-storey flyover that includes a Metro line. For Gayatri Wankhede who takes Baner Road to reach the University junction to go to work, it is a terrifying experience to navigate the footpath with two-wheelers zipping past.

The locations are different but it seems to be a similar story at some prominent stretches at J M Road, Nal Stop, Juna Bazaar, Mangalwar Peth, from Solapur Bazaar to Golibar Maidan, Pune-Satara road, and Ambedkar Chowk, Pimpri. (Express photograph by Arul Horizon)

“I am worried when I am accompanied by my eight-year-old daughter or sometimes when my elderly mother is walking with me. If the footpath is for bikers then where should pedestrians walk? Some of the bikers argue with us if we question them and keep honking,” she says. The Indian Express team witnessed a fight between an autorickshaw driver and a biker on the same issue. The autorickshaw had stopped at the point where the bikers wrongly entered the footpath. Two bikers kept honking at him to move ahead so they could enter the footpath. As the rickshaw driver objected and raised his voice, what followed was an altercation which many people say is now routine.

`No point getting stuck in traffic so long, better to ride on footpaths’

The locations are different but it seems to be a similar story at some prominent stretches at J M Road, Nal Stop, Juna Bazaar, Mangalwar Peth, from Solapur Bazaar to Golibar Maidan, Pune-Satara road, and Ambedkar Chowk, Pimpri.

At Sinhagad Road, a rider said, “I have to ride on footpaths instead of wasting my time getting stuck in traffic for so long. It is not that the citizens like riding on footpaths but what can one do especially with this disorderly traffic, flyover construction work, and the road stretch becoming narrow due to barricades? Almost always, despite leaving early to reach my work destination, I am at least five to ten minutes late.”

At the JM Road footpath, between the HP petrol pump and the Deccan bus stand, two-wheelers refuse to stop even when the traffic light is red. They hop onto the footpath anywhere and everywhere possible, squeezing past pedestrians and bhel stalls. Cars often end up having to stay much longer at the signal because when the light turns green, there is a whole influx of two-wheelers coming from the footpath onto the road. Even with the Metro running, a double-decker flyover and a service road, Nal Stop Chowk has become a nightmare during peak hours.

Private vehicles coming from Law College Road struggle to move in an already congested space and two-wheeler riders headed in the direction of Ideal Colony- Kothrud then ride on the footpath, causing inconvenience to pedestrians and commuters waiting for Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML) buses.

Appalled at Pune’s traffic situation, Advocate Shekhar Bhonagiri says motorists have no fear of being caught for either driving on the wrong side of the road or riding on footpaths. (Express photograph by Arul Horizon)

At Ambedkar Chowk, Pimpri, most two-wheelers try to get on the footpaths on either side of the old Mumbai-Pune Highway to escape the traffic on the road. At the signal where four roads intersect most two-wheelers on their way to Pimpri Station and Pimpri Bazaar jump from the footpath to the road. At times, they do it to save time, to escape the traffic light.

‘Traffic cops silent bystanders, PMC equally to blame’

Appalled at Pune’s traffic situation, Advocate Shekhar Bhonagiri says motorists have no fear of being caught for either driving on the wrong side of the road or riding on footpaths. “Frankly, traffic police are silent bystanders to the brazen traffic violations. Several excuses are given like blaming citizens, lack of staff, infrastructure projects, and others, but it is a reality that the city’s traffic has been left to implode and lawlessness is nurtured by the traffic cops’ indifference.”

At Sinhagad Road, a rider said, “I have to ride on footpaths instead of wasting my time getting stuck in traffic for so long.” (Express photograph by Arul Horizon)

Bhonagiri also blamed the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for designing the footpaths (part of the Smart City initiative) in such a way as to provide easy access to two-wheelers. “All smart city footpaths are proof of the same. Aundh smart city footpaths, where no infra project is ongoing, is a very visible example, and so is ITI Road. Just as Swachh Bharat is a mission, ‘Disciplined Bharat’ should equally be a mission and unless the traffic police with a sensitive and law enforcing leader play their role dedicatedly, we can only expect traffic wars,” the lawyer asserted.