Thane commuters leave early to reach on time, over five hour spent travelling

23 August, 2018

Thane : In order to beat the peak hour rush and make sure that they reach offices in time, Thane city residents have turned their clocks almost an hour ahead and have scheduled their commute accordingly.

The denizens who commute by their private vehicles or even the ones using public transport are now cutting down on their sleep as they have to wake up early in order to leave sooner. They claimed that the bad road condition, diversion due to repair work at Mumbra bypass has made their travel worse as there is always huge congestion.

Few have even got late marks so often that they have lost some part of their salary due as regular delay has led to them being marked absent at work. "Earlier when I used to travel towards Mumbai, I used to leave around 7:45am as it used to take only half an hour to cross the toll plaza. Since over a month I have been leaving home half-an-hour early in order to make sure that I reach in time, but sometimes when the congestion gets worse especially if a trailer breaks down then I get a little delayed," said Gaurav Bhatnagar, resident of Waghbil.

Many felt helpless that they have to take the Eastern Express Highway everyday as there is no other alternative, as reaching till Thane station and then boarding an overcrowded train is equally stressful.

The commuters even added as to how their life has become hectic as they are juggling between office and time spent in traffic snarls, due to which they are missing out on family time as they leave home early and reach late.

"I have to wake up at around 6 am so that I could do all the household chores and get ready and leave at sharp 8 am, as even a minute delay could be troublesome. It takes me over two hours to reach Andheri from Thane, while earlier in the month of March, I used to reach easily in less than an hour, but now that is not even possible on a Saturday. Daily almost five hours of my day goes into travelling, I cannot even commute by train as I have health issues and have been advised to travel by car. Also my children have been complaining that I haven't spent any time with them as I come home around 9:30pm, by that time they are almost heading to bed," said Sheetal Gaikwad.

The denizens stated that they have given hope from all the government bodies as they are facing the congestion problem since over a month now and nothing has been done for the relief of commuters. They added that the toll waiver is of no use as it had not helped decreasing the congestion.

 

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com