Crew also suffer: Renovation work under way at the cramped Arapalayam bus stand in Madurai. | Photo Credit: G. MOORTHY
A tight squeeze: Two-wheelers parked at the entrance of Arapalayam bus stand. | Photo Credit: G. MOORTHY
Lest they’ll miss: Passengers standing under a scorching sun waiting for their buses at Periyar bus stand in Madurai. | Photo Credit: G. MOORTHY
Madurai, due to its strategic location, is the connecting point for people in southern districts and so thousands of people travel through the three bus stands in the city day and night.
A large number of passengers travel by bus, the most affordable mode of transport. To fulfil this huge demand, Madurai city has three bus terminuses– Arapalayam bus stand, Periyar bus stand and MGR bus stand at Mattuthavani.
Arapalayam bus stand is meant for buses bound for places northwest of Madurai such as Salem, Erode, Tirupur and Coimbatore, and west (Theni, Cumbum, Bodi, Kumily, etc.) The MGR bus terminus serves numerous places in north (Tiruchi, Thanjavur, Puddukottai), east (Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram) and the whole south (Virudhunagar, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi and Kanniyakumari districts).
Periyar bus stand, from where all buses originated once, now serves as the city bus terminus.
Despite several renovation works carried out in all these three bus stands under various projects over the years, lack of basic facilities remains as a never-ending issue for passengers.
The Arapalayam bus stand, served by 1,200 inter-district buses are operated, sees a footfall of at least 40,000 to 50,000 passengers a day. A. Arumugam, a passenger, said the bus stand can be termed as the most unsightly place with garbage strewn around everywhere. “Toilets here no not have flush. This is not only infectious for passengers but also for sanitation workers who clear the mess,” he said.
Wastewater from shops gets stagnated along the platforms and start stinking. “These deficiencies have become so commonplace in a bus stand that people have become inured to them. But the civic body has the responsibility to keep the important public utility spic and span,” he added.
Speaking about renovation works being carried out in the bus terminus at a cost of ₹1 crore, ward 58 councillor M. Jeyaram, said paver blocks were being relaid to level the surface to prevent water stagnation. Ways should be found to prevent draining of wastewater from shops and eateries into bus bays as it makes the paver blocks cave in when buses are driven over them.
More drinking water facilities are also needed as the existing facilities were either defunct or damaged. Encroachments by shops on the platform is also yet another inconvenience, he said.
Though the possibility of an expansion or relocation of Arapalayam bus terminus was ruled out by corporation officials, the buses scheduled an hour after their arrival could be parked on the Vaigai bank road to prevent congestion at the bus stand, Mr. Jeyaram said.
A shopkeeper, Manickam, said that as two-wheelers are parked outside the police outpost at the entrance to the bus stand, drivers find it difficult to swerve the buses through the constricted space.
Periyar bus stand
Periyar bus stand, which was inaugurated in 2022 after renovation works, is yet to fulfil passengers’ needs. The space at the shelters is disproportionate to the volume of passenger traffic it handles. S. Shivani, a college student, said that at times buses entering the terminus are parked in the open, away from the designated bays. So people are forced to watch out for the entry of their buses by waiting under a scorching sun, lest they’ll miss them.
S. Baskaran, ward 52 councillor, said the shopping complex and the parking facility built on the bus terminus should be thrown open to prevent irregular parking. “If additional shelters are constructed, they would obstruct movement of buses. But some alternatives should be worked out,” he said.
Big problems
The huge MGR bus stand, which witnesses a huge footfall, has problems as big as its size. Unclean platforms, leaking drainage pipes, pools of stagnant wastewater on bus bays, dilapidated feeding room, insufficient CCTVs, poor lighting, damaged chairs, platform encroachments... the list is long and varied.
Ward 33 councilor R. Malathi said they were demanding more hands to support the sanitation workforce. “Since Mattuthavani also has a flower market, wholesale vegetable market and fish market, more sanitation workers are required to clear garbage. Staff crunch has led to a miserable state of affairs,” she said.
Citing frequent theft cases reported from the bus terminus, Ms. Malathi said police should install CCTV cameras to instill fear among pickpockets and chain snatchers. “Many CCTVs are not functioning, and the rest are in a bad shape,” she said.
Moreover, steps like increasing lighting inside the bus stand, vigilant policing, indication of CCTV installation on the premises could help prevent crimes, she said.
A Corporation official said that cluster of lights with high masts need to be erected in both this bus terminus and the adjacent omni bus stand to prevent criminal activities. “Police should also increase their strength and patrol at least in crime-prone spots,” the official added.
