The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) is set to increase its fleet strength with 1,000 new buses.
MTC Managing Director Alby John while addressing the participants after releasing the report of the study, ‘Fair Fares: Towards gender-inclusive public transport,’ of the Consumer Action Group (CAG) at a function held in the city on Tuesday, said 1,000 new buses comprising 500 electric buses, 250 low floor and 250 standard buses, would be inducted into the fleet of 3,450 buses.
Mr. John, citing the financial benefit of ₹800 to ₹1,000 accrued per month by the scheme of free bus travel for women introduced by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, said, the scheme called ‘Vidiyal payanam’ has been a remarkable success leading to multiplier impact in the economy.
With regard to the complaint on the need for increasing ordinary services or white board buses, the official said more than 50% of the total fleet of 3,300 buses being operated daily, 1,560 buses are being operated as ‘Ordinary’ buses. He also said the average number of women passengers have increased from 10.22 lakh to 10.42 lakh per day in the present financial year.
He said it was wrong to state that the free bus travel for women scheme was causing revenue loss to the MTC because the State government has compensated the corporation by paying ₹1,422 crore till date, out of the total subsidy of ₹6,788 crore, given to the seven State Transport Corporations (except State Express Transport Corporation). A total of 424 crore women have benefitted from the scheme with 88 crore women passengers having travelled in the MTC, he added.
Raj Cherubal, Chief Development Goals Specialist, United Nations Development Programme, pointed out that the MTC has remained an unsung hero of the city even while earning a bad reputation as a loss-making entity. Mr. Cherubal said the MTC despite sitting on prime properties has not been able to generate good revenue out of it, as also the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS). He said the MTC and Metro should not be treated as competitors, but as facilitators with the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Authority (CUMTA) needing to play a more coordinated role. Comparing the city of London to Chennai, he said London has nearly 8,500 buses against a population of 9 million whereas the city has only 3,500 buses for the same population.
Shreya Gadepalli, founder of UrbanWorks, said the free bus scheme for women is a good social initiative that has broken the big obstacle of women mobility by providing great connectivity.
The study was conducted by CAG along with ASAR and Sustainable Mobility Network wherein 3,000 women across six cities of Chennai, Coimbatore, Salem, Thiruvarur, Tirunelveli and Thiruvannamalai, were registered.
