Over 100 new deluxe buses with low platforms have hit the city roads since Tuesday, according to officials in the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) Madurai Division, without any gala function.
Though close to 175 new buses reached the TNSTC depot here three months back, they remained off the roads. Some of the opposition parties had raised questions over non-commissioning of these buses. Recently, for want of space in the depot here, many buses were sent to be parked in depots in neighbouring districts.
Under these circumstances, a TNSTC official told ‘The Hindu' that following an oral directive, buses which were parked in the TNSTC depot here commenced operations on different routes in the city.
All the existing buses replaced by the new ones would be sent in a phased manner for operations in neighbouring Dindigul and Virudhunagar.
The break-up of buses in the Madurai division is: low-platform buses 176; city express 215; LSS 225; flat fare buses105; and ordinary buses 20.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA N. Nanmaran has appealed to the authorities to operate more ordinary services.
Diesel consumption
Meanwhile, a source in the TNSTC technical and maintenance wing said that the buses that were withdrawn from the city routes consumed more diesel per litre than those operated on the mofussil stretches due to technical factors. Currently, a bus plying on a mofussil route gave a mileage of 5.25 km per litre while city buses gave 4.53 km. At a time when the officials are campaigning on fuel saving, the mofussil buses are likely to consume higher amount of fuel, it is said.
