The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) has been redefining the bus operation in the past few months by going in for a ‘hub and spoke’ model where the important bus depots in the city outskirts act as hubs.
Tambaram, Thiruvanmiyur, Keelkattalai, Poonamallee, Avadi and Red Hills have become hubs for MTC bus operations to serve localities in and around and to link the city, officials said.
However, commuters in Avadi have been complaining about the gradual reduction of bus services originating from Avadi and also via Pattabiram. S. Vaidyanathan, a resident of Kamaraj Nagar, Avadi, in a letter to MTC, has given detailed information of the various services that were previously operated from Avadi and Pattabiram but gradually reduced.
Mr. Vaidyanathan said previously 211 services were operated from Avadi and Pattabiram to various places, which has drastically come down to only 70 services. More than 140 services have been stopped over a period of time, he charged. He further claimed that bus services to Tambaram, Vandalur, Tiruottiyur, Vadapalani, and some important areas had been either reduced or taken out.
Routes redesigned
However, the MTC officials said that under the ‘hub and spoke’ model, it has redesigned the routes and services with most of the focus being on far-flung areas and more services linked to the hubs like Tambaram, Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus in Koyambedu, Thiruvanmiyur and Red Hills.
A senior official of the State Transport Department said that some freedom to rearrange the bus services had been given to the branch managers, who have a better idea of the passenger demand in some areas. But in no case the important services already available would be taken out or reduced without the permission of the department, he said.
Stating that there had not been any drastic reduction of bus services from Avadi and Pattabhiram, an MTC official said that previously 211 bus services were operated, which had reduced to 201 services and not 70 as claimed.
