CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Thursday asked the government to hold talks with omni bus owners to resolve the difficulties they have been facing due to shifting of operations from Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) at Koyambedu to the newly-opened Kalaignar Centenary Bus Terminus (KCBT) at Kilambakkam.
When the petitions filed by the omni bus operators came up for hearing before Justice RN Manjula, senior counsel Vijay Narayan, representing the petitioners, submitted that the operators shall be allowed to park their vehicles in a private garage and move to KCBT and be permitted to pick up commuters en route to KCBT and in the return direction.
Advocate General (AG) PS Raman said the government is open to the suggestions and is ready to hold talks with the operators who are running services to southern districts to sort out the issues.
Recording the submission, the judge directed the government to hold the talks with the representatives of omni bus operators associations and resolve the issues soon.
“Since the respondent is open to invite all those representatives willing to participate in the discussion, I feel the problems can be resolved within a short period,” she said.
She also asked the government to allow the operators to pick up and drop off passengers from select points en route to KCBT.
“Taking into account the difficulties faced by the public, some pick-up and drop-off points may be allotted so that a few passengers can have the advantage of boarding the bus when the vehicle is taken from the garages to KCBT,” Justice Manjula said.
Referring to the difficulties the commuters face in the buses run from different places of the city to the newly-opened bus terminus, the judge told the authorities to ensure enough space for keeping the luggage, apart from disabled-friendly facilities.