The Hindu : Passenger comfort in reverse gear

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 22, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

Passenger comfort in reverse gear

By S. Sundar

MADURAI, FEB.21 . Passengers arriving at the just now revived Pazhanganatham bus stand are put to untold sufferings as teething problems such as lack of `sufficient' connecting buses between the newly created temporary bus terminal and other parts of city and the absence of basic amenities including drinking water, proper shelter and toilet.

Just a day after the select 86 short-distance moffusil buses were terminated at the Pazhanganatham bus stand, the private operators started resenting the authorities' failure to provide even the minimum facilities for a bus stand. "Now that we have 86 buses making around 400 trips to the bus stand, we expect additional city bus services to cater for the passengers who come here," said the manager of a private bus operator.

Drivers and conductors complained that the authorities were "acting tough" with them and they were being fined for stopping vehicles at "unauthorised" places. However, police sources said the buses were not allowed to stop anywhere but at the bus stand only to prevent traffic hold-ups on the national highway. "If that be the case, they should operate more connecting buses so that the passengers can easily reach their destinations," one of the drivers said, adding that on some occasions the passengers had to wait even for 20 minutes to board a city bus.

However, a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation official said normal bus services were operated from Pazhanganatham. Since the buses had to take a circuitous route due to renovation work undertaken on the Mayor Muthu rail overbridge, now it takes nearly an hour for a bus to reach the Periyar bus stand from Pazhanganatham, against the normal time of five minutes. "It is worse, if the buses are caught at the railway crossing at Sellur," the official said. Besides, the TNSTC could not operate buses without route permit, he pointed out.

The lack of proper shelter at the bus stand has forced passengers to wait in the scorching sun. They are taking shelter under the shade of lampposts and outside the closed doors of shops around. Besides, there is no drinking water and toilet facility. Many passengers, after a long wait, are seen walking all the way from the bus stand to the national highway to reach their destination in the city.

However, the private bus operators, who did not raise their voice till the operation at the defunct bus stand resumed, are now fearing loss of revenue in due course, as more passengers would prefer TNSTC buses to avoid the inconvenience and unnecessary delay at the Pazhanganatham bus stand.

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