As many as 42 new buses were flagged off for public on Thursday by the Deputy Speaker of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, Pollachi V. Jayaraman, in the presence of elected representatives.
The buses are part of the 430 buses sanctioned during 2016-17. Of the sanctioned buses, 215 were introduced in July and October 2018 in the first phase.
Of the 555 buses dedicated by the Chief Minister on January 7, Coimbatore Division got 140 new buses.
Of this, Coimbatore gets 42, the Nilgiris - 19, Tirupur - 41 and Erode - 38. The new buses will be largely operated from Coimbatore to Madurai, Tiruchi, Salem, Pudukottai, Karur, Tirupur (via Palladam), Gobichettipalayam, Tirunelveli, Sivaksasi, Dharapuram, and Kumuli, besides buses from Tirupur to Madurai and from Mettupalayam to Tiruchendur.
For 2018-19, the government has proposed to buy 3,000 new buses at ₹893 crore, of which 170 at ₹50.6 crore is for Coimbatore.
TNSTC Coimbatore will soon operate 20 air conditioned electric-powered buses with German technology. To report about faulty buses, flat tyres, crew behaviour and other issues, a Whatsapp number is made available at the TNSTC head office control room and will be monitored 24x7x365 and complaints could be sent to 94425-01920.
CCTV surveillance
The corporation has introduced bio-metric and face reading attendance mechanism at the head office and it will be gradually extended to all the branches in a phased manner.
To improve efficiency and performance levels, the TNSTC branches and depots are being brought under CCTV surveillance, a release said.
