Early next year, after Chennai Metro becomes operational, you will not have to bargain with autorickshaw drivers to get home after exiting a Metro station.
You can simply hop into a Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bus. At least that is what authorities of Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) are claiming.
MTC will set up bus bays outside Metro stations, like the one outside Chennai Central railway station. In the first phase, the facility will be introduced at stations between Koyambedu and Alandur.
“CMRL officials have to work out the frequency of their trains. Based on this, we will provide buses. Passengers will not have to wait for long for the feeder service,” said an MTC official.
Meanwhile, CMRL officials said they have identified 30 feeder routes, from Koyambedu to St. Thomas Mount, where mini buses, buses and share autorickshaws will run, to service interior areas from the Metro stations. There will be a train every 4.5 minutes during peak hours, and one every 15 minutes during non-peak hours. Each four-car train will have the capacity to carry a little over 1,000 passengers.
The trains will run at an average speed of about 35 km/hr, and be operational for 19 hours every day, from 5 a.m. to midnight.
“We will be able to decide on the feeder service frequency only after Chennai Metro operations begin. We can judge the need based on the number of commuters on this stretch, in the early stages. After we get an idea, we will communicate the same to MTC,” said an official of CMRL.
At Arumbakkam, CMBT and Ashok Nagar, share autorickshaws will serve as feeder service, in addition to mini buses.
Both small and regular buses will operate as feeder services from these stations. “Buses will cater to all the 32 Metro stations and will cover a five-km radius,” the official said.
At present, 100 small buses are operated in the city, connecting far-away localities. There are over 3,000 regular buses. “We will get 100 more buses soon, so they can cater to the needs of Metro Rail passengers,” the official said.
