The searing heat has made life extremely unpleasant for the city's residents. But the city's only air-conditioned public transport option, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation's Volvo bus fleet, seems to be making most of the weather conditions to rake in profits.
The average daily earnings from the 100 AC buses, which operate along 30 of the MTC's 670-odd routes, have increased by a little more than Rs.1 lakh since the beginning of this month. Some of the AC bus routes that generate the highest revenue are: 576 (T.Nagar – Kancheepuram), 19B (T Nagar to Kelambakkam) and 570 (CMBT to Kelambakkam).
However, senior MTC officials are still sceptical about the need for the “luxury” service. Occupancy ratio of the AC buses is less than 50 per cent during off-rush hour, says an official. According to the MTC's internal estimates, daily collection from each of the AC bus must be around Rs.18,000 to break even. The summer heat has pushed collection only up to Rs.12,500. Enough passengers aren't using the buses, except on weekends when patronage is usually high, the official says.
There are many reasons for the apparent non-viability of the AC service. The limited area of coverage within the city is a prime area of concern for commuters. More than 35 per cent of AC services ply through the IT Corridor (Rajiv Gandhi Salai). Less than four services operate through a significant portion of north Chennai. Experts say that any transit system has to provide a “network service”, enabling commuters to reach most major hubs within the city.
There are also questions about the frequency of AC buses. T.K. Pandian, a quality consultant, who regularly uses AC buses, says “From Thirumangalam to Chengalpattu, I have to switch two buses. The travel is painful. Why wouldn't I use the direct AC bus? Though it is available, it is unreliable. I have no idea about the schedule. Catching an AC bus comes down to coincidence.”
The operational headway along most of the AC bus routes is one bus every hour. This low frequency is due to the limited number of such buses in the fleet. To give a comparison, Delhi has more than 700 low floor AC buses and Bangalore 450 such buses. The existing AC bus routes in the city and their operational frequency is available on >http://www.mtcbus. org/ACBusesTimeSchedule.asp.
A recent study done by Anna University shows that of the 40,000-odd daily users of AC buses, more than 24 per cent had shifted from cars and two wheelers, which is one of the highest achieved by a public transport system in the city.
MTC's own studies prove that just by providing better frequency of services on all existing routes, a shift of 15 to 20 per cent from private modes to public transport is possible. The potential of such conversion is much more with more AC buses.
S.K. Lohia, Officer on Special Duty (Urban Transport), Ministry of Urban Development, says that States must stop looking at air-conditioned bus services as a luxury segment. “Are we ever going to have a Metro that is not air-conditioned? AC buses are a must, but frequency of service in Chennai is too low. There should be a bus at least every 15 minutes. Besides, just introducing such buses will not improve public transport. It has to be coupled with better route planning, introducing a variety of passes and implementing electronic ticketing, which has been shown to increase revenue by 12-15 per cent.”
Terming public transport facilities in most Indian cities as “inhuman”, he advocates a system where 40 per cent of the revenue will come through non-fare box collection. “Follow the Metro example. Use revenue from advertisements and commercial land use to expand service quality, while keeping fares low. We recently wrote to all JNNURM cities to frame a city-specific advertisement policy.”
A.Veeraraghavan, Transportation Engineering Professor at IIT-Madras, points to Bangalore which earns Rs.1.5 lakh per year through advertisements on each of its Airport-link ‘Vayu Vajra' AC buses. “In Indian conditions, every bus can be made into an AC service. We must stop viewing those who go by buses as third-rate citizens.”
