A group of commuters from Kovilambakkam Panchayat have prepared a letter to send to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa requesting her to make her legislators travel by bus in order to understand the problems commuters face. Their complaints deal with poor bus connectivity and unclean buses.
A total of 18 residents of Rajam Nagar and Sadasivam Avenue in Kovilambakkam Panchayat have prepared the signed resolution.
“Two routes — A-51 connecting Broadway and Tambaram and 5-A connecting T. Nagar and Tambaram pass via Velachery. But they do not halt on Gandhi Road which has over 1,000 commuters,” said Kasi Raju, a bus commuter.
He said though students in the locality have been given free bus passes, they are not able to use them as buses do not stop on Velachery Gandhi Road.
“Many of them pay Rs.10 and have to travel to the Vijaya Nagar terminus in private jeeps to take a bus to their schools, making it a longer, more arduous journey. They have been severely inconvenienced because of this for several years now, as time and money is wasted on travel,” he said.
Though the commuters have sent many petitions to the State government as well as to Metropolitan Transport Corporation Limited (MTC), they have had no response. “Deluxe buses to Thiruvanmiyur stop on Velachery Gandhi Road. But none going towards Tambaram stop here,” said Vimala Sasikumar, who travels to Tambaram daily.
Commuters said that only if a legislator travelled by public transport would he know what the actual problems were. “They can then convey our issues to the government and that will lead to better governance,” said residents in the resolution.
The residents also plan to meet the Chief Minister sometime soon.
Connectivity apart, another issue that irks commuters is the poor condition of the buses.
“Most buses are unclean with litter strewn around. Doors do not function in the deluxe buses. They are not really deluxe in terms of convenience,” said S. Kalitheerthan, a commuter who works in an IT company on Old Mahabalipuram Road.
