CHENNAI: Madhavaram bus terminus, which primarily caters to Andhra Pradesh buses, will now be connected to the metro rail station built under phase-II through a 50-metre connecting bridge from the terminus, said Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) special officer I Jayakumar.
The Chennai Metro Rail Phase-II Corridor-5 (Madhavaram to Sipcot) passes through GNT Road with a station adjacent to the Madhavaram mofussil bus terminus. In order to promote multimodal integration, the CMRL has sought CMDA’s nod to construct an elevated station adjacent to the MMBT bus stand with a connecting bridge inside the terminus, he said.
According to sources, nearly 19 metro stations will be connected to either bus terminals or suburban stations or bus stands as part of multimodal integration. Currently, the bus terminus is not operating to its potential as state transport corporation buses to Andhra are plying from Koyambedu. Similarly, all private buses are also being operated from Koyambedu. This has reduced the patronage for buses plying from Madhavaram.
CUMTA is also planning to undertake multimodal integration under Chennai City Partnership. The new transport roadmap for Chennai Metropolitan Area will be prepared using $400 million grant from World Bank under the project ‘Chennai City Partnership -- Urban mobility and spatial development in Chennai Metropolitan Area’.