The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : B51 route change surprises commutes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 24, 2006
ePaper

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

B51 route change surprises commutes

R. Srikanth and T. Madhavan

Students coming from Velachery are hit

CHENNAI: An unannounced diversion of the B51 service (plying from East Tambaram to T. Nagar) by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation has caught commuters unawares in southern suburbs. Particularly, students coming from Velachery have been hit by the diversion.

For the past few years B51service was plying through Keelkattalai, Madipakkam Main Road, Velachery, Five Furlong Road and Saidapet.

Enquiries at the East Tambaram Time keeper's office revealed that the bus route was changed last week to run from East Tambaram via Selaiyur, Keelkattalai, Medavakkam Main Road, Thillai Ganga Nagar subway, Guindy, Saidapet and reach T. Nagar.

In the return direction it was run via Guindy, St. Thomas Mount subway to reach Medavakkam Main Road near St. Thomas Mount railway station. It joins Velachery Road near Quaide Milleth College at Medavakkam. S. Rajendran, an autorickshaw driver says his 12-year old daughter and her two friends on their way to Velachery, unaware of the diversion of the bus through Guindy, boarded the bus at T. Nagar on November 17. Seeing the bus taking a different route via Guindy, the girls were surprised. They hurriedly got down at the Kathipara Junction and were forced to walk all the way to the Velachery checkpost.

Similarly, S. Visalakshi, an aged woman, who boarded the bus at East Tambaram with her heavy luggage, was forced to get down near Tambaram court bus stop after she found out that the bus was not going to Ram Nagar in Madipakkam. She said she was using the route for the past two years and did not know about the change.

But despite the change, the MTC buses still display the old route misleading the commuters, who wonder why the change was not announced either at the bus terminal or through the media.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu