CHENNAI: Over 13 lakh people left Chennai for their hometown in various parts of Tamil Nadu and nearby states on Tuesday and Wednesday on public transport to cast vote in the Assembly election scheduled for Thursday.
During this period, as many as 97 trains departed from Chennai Central, and 85 from Chennai Egmore and Tambaram, with a combined daily capacity of around 3.65 lakh passengers.
According to sources, over 7 lakh passengers are estimated to have travelled by train from Chennai in the past two days. To meet additional demand, the railways also operated an unreserved special train from Chennai to Madurai on Wednesday.
Many motorists left the city via GST Road, ECR, GNT Road, and the Bengaluru bypass. National highways leading to Villupuram and Vellore experienced heavy congestion over the two days, with significant tailbacks also reported on GST Road.
The transport department said as many as 9,818 buses were operated from the Kilambakkam, CMBT, and MMBT bus terminals over the past two days, carrying about 3.2 lakh people. “In addition to 2,092 daily regular services, a total of 6,234 special buses have been scheduled between April 21 and 23,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, omni bus operators reported 6,000 buses ran 9,000 trips per day, carrying around 3 lakh people over the past two days. Operators noted fares remained within approved limits, with no significant hike. Demand was particularly high on routes such as Chennai-Coimbatore, Chennai-Nagercoil, and Chennai-Tirunelveli. On several routes, the fare for multi-axle Volvo omni buses was capped between Rs 3,600 and Rs 4,000.
Sources attributed the surge in bus and train bookings to the weekend holidays.