The wait at the bus stop near Don Bosco School on Broadway Road is longer than it should be: many MTC buses don’t stop here, flouting a rule. Commuters allege that the practice of skipping this bus stop takes place especially during school hours. According to them, this is being done to prevent school children, who have free bus passes, from boarding the buses as having them on board in large numbers would reduce the daily revenue.
Hundreds of school children take this stretch, also known as Prakasam Salai, which has the decades-old Broadway Theatre, and connects to places such as Tondiarpet, Mint, Tiruvottiyur, Perambur, Manali, Washermenpet, Basin Bridge, Villivakkam, Ayanavaram and Purasawalkam. The Broadway Road is also a short route connecting Mint with the seashore areas of Royapuram and Kasimedu.
“Many a time, we have to run behind a bus and board it as it skips the stop after seeing a number of students waiting there. While boarding the moving bus, some of us have got hurt,” says K. Vigesh, a class VIII student.
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MTC officials say a huge number of students boarding buses during rush hour prevents them from minimum revenue collection. Also, playful students are hard to control as they ignore commuters’ advice against footboard travel. “If any accident occurs during a trip, the MTC staff, especially bus driver, is held responsible. So, we try to avoid allowing a huge number of students to board a bus at a time,” says an MTC official.
Commuters feel more buses along the route, especially around closing time for schools, would be a solution. “Unlike in the other parts of the city, residents of northern neighbourhoods rely on buses for their transport as they are cheaper and provide connectivity to far-flung places such as Ennore and Kathivakkam,” says N.Vimala, a resident of Mint.
“Not stopping at designated stops causes hardship for commuters.”
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