Struggling with the extra demand for buses to cater to the city’s expanded area, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) seems to have decided that the way out is to rob Peter to pay Paul.
Extended areas of the city, including Madipakkam, Keelkattalai, Sholinganallur, Muthapudupet in Avadi, Saligramam and Valasaravakkam have gained bus services, allegedly at the cost of buses that were operated within the city.
MTC has either started new routes linking suburbs or extended services from original destinations.
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M. Ajay Kannan, a resident of Jones Road in Saidapet, said there was a visible reduction in the number of buses on route no. 5B (T. Nagar to Mylapore).
The 5B service is one of the oldest services being operated in the city, and the frequency has been reduced over time. The service connects several important commercial centres including Adyar and Mandaveli and there are very few buses running on this route.
Similarly, commuters also complain about the sudden drop in frequency of old bus routes such as 3A (Mandaveli to Broadway), 51H (Tambaram to Saidapet), 45A (Velachery to Ice House), 29N (Velachery to Perambur), and A51 (Tambaram West to Broadway).
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Routes rationalised
A senior MTC official said while some of the bus routes had been renamed and extended, others had been reduced because of poor patronage and also because of the availability of alternative public transport services.
The official said to provide last link facilities to residents in the suburbs for using MRTS train services, a number of services including M1 (Thiruvanmiyur to Keelkattalai) and 61C (Muthapudupet to Avadi Bus Terminus) had been extended. Also, small buses have been introduced in Ullagaram and Puzhuthivakkam.
The number of MTC buses on route 61C has been increased as there was no public transport facility at all a few years ago though a large number of residential colonies had come up inside the Avadi Heavy Vehicles Factory.