Sixty-eight-year-old N. Velu, a retired bank staff and a resident of Anna Nagar, has been waiting for more than an hour in a queue in front of a counter at Anna Nagar West bus terminus to get a set of free bus passes for the next three months.
Beneficiaries of the free bus pass facility for senior citizens, including women commuters, rest take rest on the floor and wait for their turn.
Despite the fact that the neighbourhood of Anna Nagar has two bus terminuses — East Mogappair and West Mogappair — at present, the bus terminus at Anna Nagar West is the only facility where free bus passes for senior citizens in neighbouring areas like Tirumangalam, Padi, Mogapair West, J.J. Nagar and Nolambur are given.
However, no counters have been opened at these two termini despite repeated pleas by commuters from these neighbourhoods to officials at the Pallavan House, the MTC’s headquarters on Anna Salai.
If senior citizens are unable to get bus passes at this terminus, they have to travel to either the Ambattur Industrial Estate bus terminus or the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus in Koyambedu to get them.
“Every time we come to get our free passes, we have to face the ordeal of long wait in the open with no seating arrangements and shelter. We take turns to stand in the queue, so that we get take some rest on the nearby concrete platform inside the bus terminus,” said K. Sekar, a commuter in Anna Nagar.
Residents said there were currently no direct bus services from Mogappair to Anna Nagar West bus terminus.
There were bus services only up to Tirumangalam and they had to travel by share autos or board another bus to reach the terminus there.
During rush hour, most of the buses on J.N. Road are packed; as part of MTC’s austerity measures, during lean hours, only a few buses are operated from Mogappair to Tirumangalam, from where they can reach the Anna Nagar West bus terminus.
“As autorickshaws demand more money to take us from the Tirumangalam bus stop to the Anna Nagar West bus terminus, we walk around one kilometre to the bus terminus to get our passes,” said S. Devi, a commuter from Mogappair.
The bus terminus in East Mogappair was renovated last year at a cost of Rs. 60 lakh under the MLA’s Local Area Development fund. Some of its facilities include shelters, a time keeper’s office, laying of access road inside the terminus, levelling of the floor and bus bays, compound wall, lights and a baby feeding room.
A few years ago, the bus terminus at West Mogappair was also renovated, and most of these facilities were provided. MTC officials said that in February this year, the state government had introduced a scheme by which those over the age of sixty could travel for free in non air-conditioned government buses in Chennai from February 24. The scheme is being implemented on a pilot basis in Chennai and will be extended to other places after studying the response.
Those aged over sixty could apply for ID cards and tokens at designated bus depots by submitting a copy of their family ration card (for address proof) and of the identity card issued by MTC to senior citizens for free bus passes at the nearest bus terminus/depot to get free passes (tokens) for the next three months. Each card holder is eligible for 10 tokens per month.
