TIf the traffic department thought that stopping all mofussil buses coming into the city towards CMBT - near the Porur Tollgate and Maduravoyal flyover - for several hours on Friday would ease the rush for outgoing buses and spread the Deepavali cheer, they hadn’t factored in the grumpy passengers who were so near, yet so far from their destinations in the city.
In fact, a few hundred commuters had to get down from their buses near Porur Tollgate and Maduravoyal flyover to start a tough journey towards Koyambedu. A few autorickshaws near the Porur Tollgate were drooling with delight as they saw people with luggage alighting from mofussil buses. They decided to make a killing and demanded a cool `600 for a trip to Ambattur Estate bus terminus and `500 to Koyambedu.
With most of the passengers getting down at Perungalathur, there were a bunch of unlucky ones in each bus, who had little options to choose from. The most unfortunate were those who boarded buses in Perungalathur in the hope of a quick journey to Koyambedu.
Those who had come from long distances with their families and carrying luggage had to choose between getting fleeced by the auto driver and staying put on their buses fully prepared for the long haul. Some others chose to travel by foot towards Maduravoyal in the hope of finding ‘reasonable’ auto drivers or an MTC bus.
The moment auto drivers barked the humungous fares, most commuters rushed back to the buses from which they had alighted. But there were others who were ready to pay up to get into an auto. As there were more such desperate people than the number of auto near the Tollgate, market forces worked and the fares kept climbing with each passing minute.
Those who chose to walk to Maduravoyal hoping that auto drivers there would follow the meter were shocked to find several buses parked near the Maduravoyal flyover and the situation as bad as the Tollgate. Finally, MTC buses from Poonamalee and Thiruverkadu rolled in, which helped the stranded commuters reach Koyambedu.
For those who chose the marathon walk, it took around two to three hours to reach Koyambedu. But they perhaps reached much earlier than the ones who chose to stay plonked in their mofussil buses. If only the traffic department had taken the trouble of giving advance intimation of their plans to stop mofussil buses at Porur Tollgate or Maduravoyal, commuters could have disembarked at Perungalathur itself and planned their onward journey suitably.