Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday flagged off 189 new buses and 55 rebuilt buses.
These included two luxury buses to operate between Chennai and Srirangam. The buses would have food and toilet facilities as in flights and trains. This is the first time such luxury buses are being operated by the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC).
The buses include 66 new routes in Chennai exclusively for women and children. This is in addition to the 134 buses operated for women and children in the city.
The CM commenced extension of monthly season tickets on concessional fare to suburban areas as well.New Ferry Boat
The Chief Minister also flagged off a new boat — ML Vivekananda — to ferry visitors to the Vivekananda Rock. The Poompuhar Shipping Corporation has been operating ML Bhagirathi for about 36 years to ferry visitors to Vivekananda rock. Now, it has been replaced by ML Vivekananda, bought at a cost of `1.8 crore, which can ferry 150 passengers at a time.
The CM inaugurated the boat service through video-conferencing facility from the Secretariat. Meanwhile, the CM also inaugurated the new road over bridge built to replace the Railway Level Crossing No.170 at Vriddhachalam in Cuddalore district.