Muthapudupet, Near Avadi
For residents of a few villages and defence colonies around Avadi, 61C (Muthapudupet – Avadi) is a lifeline, as they rely on this lone bus service for travelling to their workplaces, schools/colleges, shops, hospitals and banks every day.
Commuters from Bharathi Nagar, Kamaraj Nagar, CRPF’s Group Centre, Brindavan Nagar, Kalaignar Nagar, Defence Enclave and HVF Estate, Mittanamallee benefit from the bus service, which is operated once in 15 minutes with the first service for the day starting at 5.30 a.m and the last service ending at 8.30 p.m every day.
“A suburban train service from Muthapudupet (Pattabiram Siding Station) to Chennai Central and Beach are also operated but the service comes with the frequency of one hour. So, residents prefer the MTC bus while travelling to Avadi, where they board another bus or a train to reach any of the areas in the rest of the city,” says S. Rajendran, a long-time resident of Mittanamallee.
Started more than two decades ago, 61C is one of the 148 bus services operated from the Avadi bus terminus to different parts of the city, with around 1,200 trips every day. Interestingly, unlike other MTC buses that are operate from many neighbourhoods as cut services, 61C is operated as a regular service between Avadi and Muthapudupet, a distance of around 6 km, between these two places.
At present, 61C bus is operated from an open land that belongs to the Ministry of Defence along the railway line in Muthapudupet to pick and drop commuters from the neighbourhood.
“Acquiring Defence Ministry’s land for a bus terminus there (Muthapudupet) is an herculean task. However, we continue to operate the service (61C) due to the good patronage it receives,” says an MTC official.
