Jewar residents face dangerous climb for bus access near Noida airport

Residents near Noida airport risk injury daily while navigating dangerous slopes for inadequate bus services to essential destinations.

Diwan Singh and Santa Devi, a couple in their forties, were climbing a steep 25-foot scree-laden slope with great difficulty to reach the Yamuna Expressway from their village, Dayanatpur. The couple has to do this often just to catch a bus to Aligarh, their native place.

Residents like Diwan Singh, who reside in villages across the Jewar tehsil — where Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently inaugurated the Noida International Airport — are forced to risk their lives daily to board buses from the Yamuna Expressway. This is despite strict pedestrian restrictions and a speed limit of 100 km/h, due to a poor public transportation system in place.

Despite being home to what would become India’s largest airport, the Jewar tehsil and its constituent villages still have no dedicated bus station. Kamal, a 48-year-old government employee, states, “There are only two buses from the town centre to Noida at 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. But since residents here travel to places like Aligarh, Agra, and Mathura daily, nearly 90% have no alternative to expressway-only buses.” Vimla Devi, a passenger from Noida, adds, “Even though they issue a ticket to Jewar, the bus never actually enters the town and just drops the passengers on the expressway.”

The Yamuna Expressway is a controlled-access expressway, i.e., it was not designed to function as a bus stop; therefore, it has high barricades all along its length. Ideally, dedicated off-road bus bays or designated bus stops along service roads should be present, but none exist along the Yamuna Expressway.”

Thus, residents are forced to first climb a 20- to 25-foot slope to reach the expressway, cross a three- to four-foot barricade, and then hope to catch a bus, as there is no fixed schedule. Several unauthorised stops have popped up along the expressway, with Jewar, Tappal, Bajna, and Vrindavan being the larger ones.

Several unauthorized stops have emerged along the Yamuna Expressway, with major ones being at Jewar, Tappal, Bajna, and Vrindavan.