A plan to relocate bus stops closer to Chennai Metro stations is likely to come to fruition shortly and will facilitate better interconnectivity of transport systems.
A senior official of the Bus Route Road division of the Chennai Corporation said a few bus stops had been identified for this, including LIC, Teynampet and Nandanam military quarters, and work will be taken up shortly.
For a unified transport system, nothing would work better than having bus stops in close proximity to the Metro stations. While transport officials still see train and bus services as different entities, for regular commuters, bus stops of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) being located near Metro stations would mutually help in better usage of public transport facilities.
Several commuters find bus stops being situated a long distance away from the Metro stations. Particularly, after the launch of full-fledged Phase 1 Metro services, quicker access between bus stops and Metro stations would help in better patronage for Metro services.
Commuters say bus stops located far away discourages them from using the Metro services. They pointed out that LIC, Nandanam Military quarters, Saidapet, and SIET College bus stops were far away from the Metro stations.
Inconvenient locations
Similarly, commuters on the other stretch between Chennai Central and Alandur say bus stops were located a long distance away from the stations of Shenoy Nagar, Vadapalani and Arumbakkam. In these areas, they avoid walking a long distance to take the Metro services, unlike the bus stops at Ashok Pillar, Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus and Koyambedu.
Krish Ramswamy, a resident of Kilpauk Garden Road, said that, for him, the nearest Metro station was Shenoy Nagar but the lack of a bus stop nearby deterred him from using the Metro services.
“Rather, I would take the bus for the entire stretch, even if it involves takes two or three buses,” he said.
A senior official of the MTC said installation and maintenance of bus stops were normally executed by the Chennai Corporation and the MTC did not have a say in the matter.
In July last year, a team of officials from the MTC, Metro and the civic body carried out a joint inspection to identify bus stops that needed to be shifted closer to the Metro stations.
