Hubballi: If you drive in the dedicated BRTS lane , you will be warned and fined as Hubballi-Dharwad police issued a notification restricting entry of private vehicles in this corridor . The order came into effect from February 4.HDBRTS Co, launched its BRTS service on a trial basis on October 2 by introducing 10 buses initially, but now its fleet of 90 buses includes non-stop and all stop buses between Hubballi and Dharwad . A mixed traffic lane has been created either side of the dedicated BRTS lane exclusively for movement of private vehicles.Some private vehicles are still moving in the BRTS dedicated lane which is leading to minor accidents and also delaying BRTS buses. Three minor accidents were reported in the dedicated lane involving BRTS buses and private vehicles in the past three months. Luckily, there were no casualties.Police commissioner MN Nagaraj said that despite creating a dedicated mixed lane road for vehicles other than BRTS buses, many vehicles entering the corridor and obstruct BRTS buses. This defeats the purpose of the government which has invested a large amount of money to develop the corridor.Nagaraj, also additional district magistrate, said, “To make this system effective, the order was needed to prohibit the entry of vehicles other than BRTS buses in the corridor, with the exception of emergency vehicles. In case of exigencies which require diversion of route for carrying out repair works, such diversions will be allowed only with prior permission. Action will be taken against those who violate this order.”BRTS deputy general manager (operations) Ganesh Rathod said, “We have almost closed all entry to BRTS lane, except Byaridevarkoppa, to prevent entry of private vehicles into the BRTS lane. We’ve been receiving an overwhelming response to BRTS service in three months. Today, 90 BRTS buses are operated daily, in which over 50,000 commuters travel and our daily earnings has increased to around Rs 5.5 lakh. The notification was issued to maintain traffic discipline and to avoid any untoward incidents in the BRTS lane. About 96-98% private vehicles using MTL, but only 1-2 % use BRTS lane due to lack of awareness of the rule.”

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