In some cases, numbers cannot lie, especially where they involve the huge Volvo bus. If these buses aren’t on the roads of a metro in as many numbers as before, they aren’t there in as many numbers. The fact is out there for everyone to see.
From having a fleet of over 100 air-conditioned Volvo buses, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation is now down to having half that number. According to the MTC website, 69 AC Volvo buses are plying on the roads of Chennai.
However, going by reports from the depots where these buses are kept, the actual figure could be even lower.
Commuters have noticed this and are complaining about it.
Factors adduced to explain the situation include poor maintenance and high operational costs.
There’s another view: MTC does not aim to make profits, but seeks to enhance services without incurring any losses.
In 2008, when MTC first launched ten Volvo buses in the city on a trial basis, there was great excitement among many commuters.
In the next two to three years, the number went up to 100 buses. Fifty of these buses were under the maintenance of the Adyar bus depot; and the rest, the Anna Nagar bus depot.
As the routes were not generating the expected revenue, MTC started redirecting some of these buses to certain other sections of Chennai. And, the number of these buses also started dwindling.
“We once had 50 buses under our care; now, we have only 21 that are operational,” says a timekeeper at Adyar depot, showing me the book where he has jotted down details of buses that have left the depot.
The IT Corridor is the most popular route for the Volvo AC buses with route number 570 (Kelambakkam to CMBT) and 19B (Kelambakkam to T.Nagar) raking in much of the moolah.
Even here, patronage is good, their numbers have come down drastically.
K. N. Raghunath, a resident of Padur, who uses public transport regularly, said: “Around five years ago, there were 37 services of 570 plying from Kelambakkam. During rush, Volvo buses on the 570 route were operated every 10 minutes. Now, I sometimes wait for an hour as there are only seven to eight buses.”
He says now breakdowns of these buses are a common sight. In many of these buses, the ride is stuffy as the air-conditioning is not effective.
The other routes on which Volvo AC buses are operated include 102 (Broadway to Kelambakkam), 114 (Red Hills to Vandalur) and 576 (T. Nagar to Kancheepuram).
According to a senior MTC official, although the AC buses drew a good response in some sections of Chennai, maintaining them became a challenge due to the cost factor.
“Getting spare parts for the Volvo-made buses is not easy. Also, lack of qualified technicians to attend to faults is a handicap,” says the official.
Repairs carried out by the in-house team of MTC is not helping these buses.
Today, many of the Volvo buses are lying idle at the garages of these bus depots.
Some of the AC buses plying on routes such as 570s, 570 and 19B (Extn) have been converted into deluxe buses.
By virtue of high pricing of tickets, Volvo AC buses make profits, which are however eaten up by maintenance. The cost of running these buses is said to be high.
“Despite the high operational costs of running Volvo AC buses, Bengaluru and Hyderabad have managed to build a huge customer base for these buses through better service. The transport corporations in these two cities achieve this through a variety of measures, which include optimising the use of resources and route rationalisation,” says Sai Ratna Chiatnya Gurugubelli, programme associate of Urban Works, Institution for Transportation and Development Policy.
According to experts, AC buses will not be phased out completely.
“The electric buses that are to be launched shortly will replace the diesel-run vehicles as they will be fitted with air conditioners,” says Jayabharathi from ITDP.
