CHENNAI: The summer rush and the long weekend have led to a surge of crowds in mofussil buses. The State Express Transport Corporation transported nearly 1.5 lakh passengers on April 29 and netted a collection of Rs. 99 lakh, according to officials.

"We have 800 scheduled services. Ever since summer began, we are operating close to 1,200 services," said a senior official.

The SETC is running all of its 800 buses plus 80 spares. The newly introduced 100 ultra-deluxe vehicles with pushback seats have hit the road. The 100 old buses, for which new replacements are in place, would be called off duty only after the season ends, says the official. In addition, route services go on extra trips during `idle hours' after a short break.

In terms of money, SETC's collection has gone up from Rs. 70 lakh to Rs. 99 lakh, during weekends. On `lean days' such as Tuesday and Wednesday, the collection has moved up from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 75,000 in the last couple of months.

However, passenger comfort takes a backseat in this mad rush. "We cannot turn people away. Most of our passengers cannot afford train or omnibus charges. Besides, people do not plan their journeys in advance. Our online reservation has not picked up," adds the official.

With all this activity, the Koyambedu bus terminal has turned into a mass of humanity and crowds were seen through the day and even at night during the extended weekend.

A goods train derailment near Arakkonam, led to further chaos. As a result of the accident, many passengers had to chase buses to get to their destinations after train services on the Chennai Central-Jolarpettai section were hit from Sunday night. G. Vaidyanathan, a finance professional, who had come to Chennai during the weekend says he found it difficult to get back to Bangalore on Tuesday morning.

"There was a mad rush at the Koyambedu omnibus carriage station. My 4.30 p.m. bus was cancelled at the last moment. Finally I caught my bus to Hosur around 12 in the night. By this time, operators were charging Rs. 900 to Rs. 1,000 for a seat to Bangalore though many of them did not have enough vehicles," he says.

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