The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : 500 new MTC buses to roll out in January

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 28, 2007
ePaper

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

500 new MTC buses to roll out in January

Krishna Velupillai

375 will replace the old; 125 are in addition

The new services will be introduced from four main depots: Tondiarpet and Ayanavaram in the north and Vadapalani and Adyar in the south.

— PHOTO: K.PICHUMANI.

RISKY RIDE: Plans to add new buses to the roads may help to solve problems such as overcrowding.

CHENNAI: The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) will introduce 500 new buses in the city within the first week of January.

A senior official of the MTC told The Hindu that it would introduce 83 new routes and 42 additional services in the metro, in January. To fulfil this need and to replace old buses that are no longer road-worthy, the MTC will introduce the 500 new buses.

Of the 500 buses, 375 will replace the old buses and 125 will be an addition to the existing fleet. This year, the MTC condemned 970 buses, of which 320 were condemned in December alone.

The new services and buses will be introduced from all four main depots: Tondiarpet and Ayanavaram in the north and Vadapalani and Adyar in the south.

Decisions on the types of bus services (deluxe, express and ordinary) have been made, based on the need of a particular area. The official said 113 of the buses will be semi low-floor (SLF) buses. For the moment there are no plans to add to the air-conditioned (A/C) fleet.

The MTC has bigger plans for the metro later next year. “We are planning to have 3,000 services by around February or March. This may also include the introduction of additional A/C buses, as the response to them has been good so far. We feel that there will be a greater demand for A/C buses in the summer months,” he said. There are currently 2,775 services in the city.

Recruitments proposed

Simultaneously, the MTC is also recruiting staff and everything will be “ready to go by January,” the official said. There are also plans to increase the number of route inspectors to ensure proper functioning of services.

“We hope that the commuters will be happy with the new and better services that we are introducing for their convenience,” he said. As of now there are no plans to revise the fare, he added.

Asked what they felt about the MTC plans, many commuters said that they looked forward to better services and hoped that public transport woes would be less in the New Year. Many, however, said they preferred to reserve judgement until the new buses were up and running.

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

Tamil Nadu