CHENNAI: The state transport department on Thursday informed the Madras High Court that 563 bus routes in Chennai, where Metro Transport Corporation (MTC) is operating buses, are not conducive for running low-floor buses and such buses can be operated only on 65 routes in the city for the easy access of disabled people.
The submission was made by the department through senior counsel PS Raman before the first bench of Acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy when a batch of petitions seeking operation of such buses came up for hearing. The court, however, ordered on-the-spot assessment by stakeholders about difficulties in operating such buses to resolve the issue.
It directed the petitioners, their counsels, government departments concerned and their counsels, including senior counsel PS Raman and Additional Advocate General (AAG) J Ravindran, who represented the State government, to ride on a low-floor bus on February 14 on some routes to find out the practical difficulties in operating them.
The transport department, in its affidavit, said, “The MTC is operating buses on 130 village routes with narrow roads where the body of low-floor buses could be damaged if operated. 173 routes are vulnerable for flooding and inundation during monsoon rains. If low-floor buses are operated, they may get stuck in flood waters leading to congestion on the entire stretch.”
Due to Chennai Metro Rail Corporation (CMRL) construction work, low-floor buses cannot be plied on 186 routes while such operation is inviable on another 74 routes where small buses are being operated due to paucity of space, authorities said.
The department also told the court that it has planned to differentiate the proposed low-floor buses by assigning separate colour code and their operation timing will be notified on real-time basis on Chennai bus app to help disabled commuters. The department also said low-floor buses can be operated on 65 routes in Chennai and 242 low-floor buses and 100 low-floor e-buses would be bought.