CHENNAI: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday announced that as many as 11,959 special buses would be operated by the State-owned transport corporations between November 6 and 9 in view of the Deepavali festival.
This would help the people from other parts of the State working in different places to reach their native places comfortably to celebrate the festival with their near and dear. Special buses had been operated for the past four years and the number of such buses are going up every year.
Of the total number of buses, 4,271 would be operated from Koyambedu bus terminus to other parts of the State while 7,688 buses would be operated from important places in rest of the State. Besides, to help people returning from their native places to their working places after the festival is over, equal number of special buses would be operated between November 10 and 16. In Chennai, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation would operate considerable number of special buses during these festival holidays.
The Chief Minister said the public can lodge complaints about collection of exorbitant fare by private bus operators with the Tamil Nadu Express Transport Corporation office at Koyambedu bus terminus by calling the telephone number 24794709.
She said special buses would be operated from Koyambedu terminus to all district headquarters and other key places in the State. While 1,106 special buses would be operated on November 6, as many as 1,146 special buses would be pressed into service on November 7. Similarly, 825 special buses would be pressed into service on November 8, the number of buses would be increased for November 9 to 1,194. In all, 4,271 special buses would be on service from Chennai.
Apart from Chennai, special buses would also be operated from other parts of the State on these four days: November 6 (1,554 buses), November 7 (1,717 buses), November 8 (1,822 buses) and November 9 (2,595 buses). In all, 7,688 special buses will be operated.
Online ticket reservation system is available for reserving tickets for the buses which are operated for more than 300 km during Deepavali holidays (www.tnstc.in). Apart from these, 25 reservation counters would be opened at Koyambedu terminus for the passengers to book their tickets in advance.