Cab ride turned power nap
What was meant to be a short cab ride across town has now become an opportunity for a power nap. Such is the unpredictability of Shillong’s ever-worsening traffic jams.
Passengers, crammed into shared taxis, often can be seen completing what was left of their 8-hour sleep from the previous night. Despite the lack of space, many can’t resist dozing off as vehicles crawl at a snail’s pace through the city.
This Friday was especially nightmarish. Hundreds of vehicles, many with engines switched off, lined the road from Barik Point all the way to Rilbong junction. The gridlock stretched towards Rhino Point, where even two-wheelers, which are usually quick to navigate narrow gaps, were forced to take U-turns to escape the jam. Locals recounted that it took them nearly three hours to travel from Barik to Jhalupara that day.
But this wasn’t an isolated incident. Traffic snarls have become a near-daily ordeal, particularly along this stretch.
While authorities attribute the mess to simply congestion, measures introduced to ease the pressure like the four-lane road from Rilbong to Upper Shillong, seem to have done little good.
Meanwhile, government-promised modern parking lots remain stuck in delays,, leaving commuters to fend for themselves in an increasingly suffocating city traffic scene.
