CHENNAI: Commuters waiting in the open to board buses at 156 locations around the city can now heave a sigh of relief after the Greater Chennai Corporation has decided to build bus shelters.
"There are many places where the bus stops at a certain point but there are no shelters. We have made provisions for 156 such new shelters in places that do not presently have one, in the tender floated for modernisation of bus shelters," said a senior corporation official.
The civic body will also take into account public requests over the next two years and construct new shelters accordingly, added the official. "Tender conditions were included so that these new shelters will be constructed at a lesser cost whenever need arises in the next two years," the official said.
This is part of the civic body's plan to convert 1,000 bus shelters in the city to modern stainless steel shelters. This includes renovating 844 existing shelters to include heat-resistant roofs and display panels that will have route numbers and names of the stops.
The display panels will have information such as route maps with information on the nearest public toilets, and nearby landmarks. The shelters will have Singara Chennai 2.0 logo. "All bus shelters will be disabled friendly," said corporation officials.
They will have ramps on both sides and the most important information on the display panels no higher than five feet so that wheelchair users can read them. The shelters are to have tactile flooring and for those suffering from visual impairments, brightly coloured tapes will be used for mobility assistance. The shelters will do away with empty spaces behind the bus stops that allow residents to urinate.
In the Build Operate Transfer, the contracting firm will be allowed to collect revenue for advertising display in designated places within the shelter and a specific fee is to be paid to the corporation annually. Recently, corruption allegations cropped up against Skyrams that now operates 450 bus shelters.
"As and when the tender expires, we will re-tender shelters in a phased manner. Already 65 of the 450 shelters operating periods expired," said an official.