CHENNAI: More than five lakh people travelled from Chennai to various parts of Tamil Nadu on government buses between Wednesday and Friday, ahead of the weekend and extended holidays.
According to officials from the state transport department, between Wednesday and 3 am on Friday, 3.13 lakh commuters travelled from Chennai on 5,780 buses, including 1,596 special services. “On Friday alone, around 1.6 lakh people travelled from KCBT, Madhavaram, and CMBT,” said an official.
To meet the surge in demand for destinations such as Tiruvannamalai, Tindivanam, Cuddalore, and other northern districts, the Villupuram division of TNSTC hired private buses. “These buses, operated from KCBT, were deployed to handle high-traffic routes. Based on reservation patterns, private operators were kept on standby and ran services at government fares,” the official added.
Major routes, including GST Road, Chennai Bypass, ECR, and OMR, saw heavy congestion from Thursday, with vehicle queues stretching up to two kilometres on GST Road during peak hours in both directions.
Meanwhile, omni buses ferried around 1.3 lakh commuters on Thursday and Friday. With demand soaring, ticket prices on several routes including Chennai - Madurai, Chennai - Coimbatore and others touched Rs 4,000. Following passenger complaints, Meenambakkam RTO officials inspected omni buses at Kilambakkam, imposing fines totalling Rs 1.26 lakh on 18 vehicles for violations such as expired insurance, unauthorised luggage transport, lack of pollution certificates, and permit breaches. Excess fares collected from passengers were retrieved from the operators and refunded on the spot.