1A, 29C, 21G, 12B – these are some of the iconic bus routes in Chennai or Madras.
For decades, residents referred to them as PTC buses, named after the Pallavan Transport Corporation. It has now adopted the more modernistic nick, known as the MTC bus, or Metropolitan Transport Corporation. The city had public transport right from Independence in 1947 when the Madras government nationalised public transport.
The MTC originally started with a fleet of 30 buses. Today, it has a fleet of nearly 3,500 buses with 34 bus termini.
Reporting: R. Srikanth
Video: M. Srinath
Production: Reenu Cyriac
Voiceover: Kanishkaa Balachandran