UT maps out staggered office hours to beat rush

CHANDIGARH: The UT administration is planning to stagger working hours in government offices to ease the rush on the roads during the peak hours.
The idea is to implement the concept with the support of Punjab and Haryana — both state governments have maximum offices in the city, a senior UT official said. Maximum rush of vehicles is witnessed at 9am and 5pm in the city.The proposal is to stagger the opening and closing hours of offices by 30 minutes to 45 minutes to unclog the roads, the official said.
According to a recent survey by the engineering department, furniture market roundabout, housing board light point, railway light point, Matka Chowk, Sector 16 cricket stadium roundabout, Sector 17 ISBT roundabout, Kisan Bhawan roundabout, Attawa roundabout and poultry farm roundabout were the main traffic choke points.
Most of the junctions like Madhya Marg, Jan Marg, Udyog Path, Dakshin Marg, Purv Marg and Himalaya Marg have high traffic volumes exceeding their capacity.
Over the years, the administration has got surveys conducted for improving public transport but to no avail.
The administration is struggling to bring down the waiting period of CTU buses that ply on a total of 75 routes. Waiting period for boarding a bus varies from 20 minutes to one hour.