CHENNAI : Passengers in the city buses in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai will soon have public address system announcing the updates on the bus stops. The Transport department has embarked on this initiate in the state-run buses just a month after introducing conductor-less buses on mofussil routes.According to official sources, during rush hour, city buses in the cities run with fully loaded commuters and many face hardship while getting down at their destined bus stop. Mainly, tourists, who travel in state-owned buses, fully depend on conductors to know where the bus is moving and if their destination has come. Initially, the system will be introduced in buses running in Madurai.
Transport secretary PWC
Davidar issued a government order in this regard on Thursday. “To facilitate commuters to know next bus stops, a public address system would be introduced in Madurai city buses,” the order read.With the fleet capacity of 3,200, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation caters for about 37 lakh commuters a day in Chennai and its suburban areas, while 810 buses operated by the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) carry about 6.25 lakh commuters a day in Madurai.
The Coimbatore region of the TNSTC serves about 9.75 lakh commuters in the city with a fleet strength of 1,257. “Madurai gets three lakh floating population a day. We will study the patronage for public address system in Madurai and accordingly we will extend it to other cities,” said a senior official from the transport department.
The order has authorised the Managing Director of Madurai TNSTC to initiate a tender process to implement the facility in city buses. “We are planning to make a GPS-enabled real-time public address system. However, depending about the feasibility, we will decide,” sources said.
Fact file
Public address system to be implemented in Madurai city buses
City bus services are operated in Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore
With the fleet capacity of 3,200 buses, the MTC
caters for about 37 lakh commuters a day in Chennai
Transport workers’ unions cautioned that the move should
not lead to introduction of conductorless city buses