For an airport that caters to at least 12,000 passengers daily, the absence of affordable transportation to the city during night hours is proving to be an impediment for flyers. While the Kerala State Transport Corporation operates more than 20 buses to the Cochin International Airport, Nedumbassery, there’s no easy way for people to commute between the city and the airport after 8 p.m.
The lack of bus services is forcing the flyers, who land here in the evening to spend about 200 times of what a bus travel would cost. The economical way would be to catch a bus to Athani and from there it is either a tedious walk of about six kilometres.
This is just for one leg of the journey though, as there are no buses that ply in the opposite direction.
Meanwhile, airport officials have also highlighted the need for connectivity between the airport and M.C. Road, which can be of great help to a large number of people employed at the airport. In their opinion, the need of the hour is to start intercity airport services along the line of the Flybus in Bangalore, which will provide direct connections to different parts of the city such as Kakkanad, the city’s IT hub.
Of blockades and diversions
Despite the steps to decongest metro rail sites, the mess in Kochi starts right from the Edappally junction.
Navigating through the junction has become an ordeal at night because of road blocks to facilitate the metro works.
On nights, security guards at the junction are seen running from helter-skelter to block the traffic from one direction while simultaneously opening a closed route at the other end.
The unsuspecting drivers, who have no inkling about such sudden diversions, are often caught unawares and what ensues is chaos.
The lack of coordination between the traffic police and the metro agency is evident from the fact that there is lesser control on traffic flow in the areas where works are in progress. Besides, there are hardly any traffic police personnel regulating traffic during late hours.
Hiran Unnikrishnan
