Impressive patronage of certain small buses encourages the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) to extend their routes or increase their fleet. Recently, MTC extended the route of S95 (Perungudi bus stop to Vijay Nagar terminus) to Velachery MRTS, primarily for the benefit of those commuting by MRTS. Last year, the number of services on this route was increased from two to three.
According to MTC officials, the bus route is raking in the moolah as it goes past many major IT companies on MGR Salai and Taramani-Velachery Road.
The average collection on this route is Rs. 6,000 and on certain days, it has even crossed Rs. 9,000.
When S95 was introduced around two years ago, it did not appear to be a promising route as there many buses were being operated between Perungudi and Velachery.
As S95 did not touch SRP Tools junction, the service began to be patronised in a big way. The route takes a diversion at Kandanchavadi to enter MGR Salai where many companies are located at RMZ IT Park and SP Info City.
“On an average, we sell over forty Rs. 8 tickets on a trip,” said the conductor of a bus, adding that a majority of his commuters are software professionals. It takes 30 minutes to complete a trip and sometime, it goes up to 45 minutes. However, this route takes lesser time than a comparable route on OMR.
The fact that it passes by the Taramani MRTS has also contributed to its patronage. As the Vijay Nagar terminus is packed all through the day and buses can be seen waiting outside the bus bays, the Velachery MRTS station is a better starting point for the route number. Increasing feeder services from Velachery MRTS station, from where small bus routes S13, S85 and S12 are operated, should encourage more commuters to switch to public transport. However, crew members of S95 say some commuters are unhappy as the travel time has increased ever since the route was extended up to Velachery MRTS.
