CHENNAI: Boarding the correct bus to reach the destination seems to have become a matter of luck for many commuters in Chennai city. The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) has silently cancelled bus services on many routes, changed bus numbers, altered routes of buses and extended services.
For instance, 12C operated from Mylapore to CMBT hasn’t been seen for the past 25 days. The bus provided connectivity for Mylapore with T Nagar and Vadapalani, via Mandaveli and Adyar gate. The transport undertaking’s decision has left bus commuters in the lurch as there is no other direct service for them.
K Murali Krishna of South Mada Street at Mylapore said two weeks ago, he was waiting for nearly for two hours at the tank bus stand to get a 12C bus; but only later die he realise that it had been withdrawn. “When I enquired with MTC staff at Mandaveli depot, I was told the bus service had been withdrawn”, he said.A few days later, 12C bus was operated again only to be withdrawn the next day, leaving the localsperplexed. “Many a time we do not know whether the buses routes are still being operated or have been withdrawn or they are operated with different route numbers,” he said.
The situation of bus commuters on the southern outskirts of the city is no different. Bus services including M21B (Chrompet-Velachery-Vijayanagar), R21 (Tiruvanmiyur-Vandalur Zoo), 19V (Velachery-Kanathur), 170M (Manali-Velachery), V21 (Guduvanchery-Tiruvanmiyur), M 21A (Tambaram-Velachery) and PP 21 (Guduvanchery-High Court) have also been withdrawn.Commuters from Tiruvanmiyur say the area has shortage of bus services to Tambaram, Vandalur and other southern suburban destinations. “The Tiruvanmiyur - Tambaram (route 95) bus service which was operated via ECR and link road was already cut short and many buses were terminated at Thoraipakkam, Sholinganallur and Chrompet. Regular buses (R21 and V 21) operated via Tidel park are also no more being operated.
Now, we have to take two or three buses to go to Tambaram,” said Saravanan of Thiruvalluvar Nagar at Tiruvanmiyur.The shuffle game of MTC does not end here. The 29K bus service (CMBT-Mandaveli) has also been cancelled for more than two weeks. Suddenly, the bus service was reintroduced a few days ago between CMBT and Mandaveli with the new route number 72M.The 170 T (Vandalur/Tambaram-Kaviarasu Kannadasan Nagar) bus has been renumbered as 121 H and 170 A (Madhavaram- Vandalur) bus number has become 121 F.
Changing the bus numbers frequently causes a lot of hardship to commuters on the route. Bus terminus staff also refuse to guide commuters on the new bus numbers and routes.Prior to January 20, with a fleet strength of 3,688, MTC catered to about 46 lakh passengers a day in Chennai city and a few parts in Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts. After the fare hike, MTC patronage has come down by nearly 30 per cent.When contacted, MTC officials said as part of a study to assess passenger demand on select section and routes, many cut services have been regularised and a few routes rationalised. “Many cut service buses have been regularised. Hence, those routes are given a new number. Once the study is completed, we will release an official statement with all the new bus route numbers,” said a senior MTC official.
When getting a bus is pure luck
n Commuters are uncertain whether buses are operated or withdrawn or operated with new numbers
n Buses operated in more than 10 routes withdrawn completely
n Bus numbers also changed
n At selected routes, buses are extended to nearby destinations and renumbered with existing bus numbers
n Officials say a statement on new bus numbers would be released soon