CHENNAI: The Metropolitan Transportation Corporation (MTC) has removed about 250-300 services on long-distance routes from its fleet and converted them into short-distance buses. The move, though dubbed as an attempt to cater to more passengers by MTC officials, came as a rude shock to commuters who were already fuming over the steep bus fare hike, who have said that they have lost the direct connectivity to many parts of the city.
Particularly, people reside in Avadi, Thirumullaivayil, Maduravayol, Sholinganallur, Injampakkam, Neelankarai, Ambattur, Tambaram, Vandalur, Padi, Perungalathur and Pallavaram are the worst affected and they have to board two to three buses to reach the other end of city.
The long routes that are converted as short routes in Chennai city include Avadi-Vandalur (70A), Sholinganallur-Tambaram west (91), Red Hills - Tambaram (114), Thiruverkadu - Tambaram (111), Kolathur- Tambaram (170) and Thiruvanmiyur - Tambaram (95).
“The Thiruvanmiyur-Tambaram (via Thuraipakkam) bus services have been short terminated at Chromepet for the past one month. I have been spending `24 (earlier `12) in express buses to go to Chromepet and from there I purchase another ticket to Tambaram for ` 12 (earlier `6) additionally. The total bus fare will be `54 if I board deluxe buses,” said Ganesh, a worker at an iron spare parts company in Thuraipakkam.
Every route has 12 to 14 buses operated on both sides. While on a few routes, two long-distance buses have continued, on some, long-distance buses have been removed and converted into short routes.
S Vaidyanathan, Kamaraj Nagar of Avadi, in his complaint letter sent to Express and the MTC administration, said that 70 A bus services operated between Avadi and Vandalur, which provided connectivity for western suburbs to the southern suburbs, have completely been eliminated.
The buses are converted as short-route buses between Avadi and CMBT (77 and 70 A cut) and CMBT-Vandalur (70 V). “To go to Avadi or Ambattur, commuters from Perungalathur have to come to the CMBT and from there have to take another bus to Avadi. The ticket fare costs `35 and `33 in deluxe buses,” pointed out Vaidyanathan.
The locals of Avadi, Thirumullaivayil, Ambattur and Padi have to rely on bus services to go to Tambaram and other neighbourhood areas in southern suburbs, as there is no direct train service. However, a few elderly commuters take a detour via Chennai Central and Park and travel by EMU trains.
Same is the case with commuters in Red Hills and Madhavaram. They have no direct buses to Tambaram and Vandalur. Particularly, college students who solely depend on buses due to free bus passes have to take two to three buses. The Redhills-Tambaram (114) bus was operated with jam-packed crowd during rush hour, catering for college students and office-goers.
“Now I have to get down at the CMBT and from there I take another bus to my college in Tambaram,” said Sathish, a college student from Red Hills. However, officials and a section of trade unions justified the move as it would cater for more passengers within the city.
P Balakrishnan, president, State Transport Employees Union (CITU) , MTC, said that when more number of long-distance routes are operated, passengers’ waiting time at bus stops en route increases, leading to migration of commuters to other mode of transportation. “Now, short route buses will reduce the commuters’ waiting hours at bus stops and it will also increase the number of passengers handled per bus. Thus, revenue also gets increased,” he said.
He added that commuters who board en-route bus stops during rush hour won’t find seats and are forced to travel for an hour and above standing in crowded buses. “Short route buses will remove such inconvenience,” he said.
With the fleet capacity of 3,200 buses, the MTC caters for about 48 lakh population in Chennai city and parts of Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts. The buses are operated on 833 routes from 33 depots.
On an average, an MTC bus is getting operated for about 260 km and carries about 1,200 commuters a day.
A senior MTC official said they had increased the ordinary bus strength in the fleet and passengers will mostly be paying the ordinary bus fare, he said.
3,200 With a fleet strength of 3,200 buses, the MTC caters to about 27 per cent of transport demand of Chennai city, according to a comprehensive transport study conducted by the CMDA
2,000 The city requires about 2000 buses to cater to the additional transport demand
260KM On an average, a bus runs through about 260 km and carries about 1,100 to 1,200 commuters
a day
2 lakh It is estimated that 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh bus commuters have migrated to various modes of transport in the last three years
14 Every route has 12 to 14 buses operated on both sides. While on a few routes, two long-distance buses have continued, on some, long-distance buses have been removed
