Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Saturday inducted 464 buses of State Transport Corporations (STCs), including 389 new vehicles and 75 refurbished ones.
As many as 250 of the new buses will be operated on new routes.
At a simple ceremony organised at the depot of the State Transport Corporation here, she handed over the keys of the new buses to 16 drivers and advised them to discharge their duties carefully, keeping in mind the safety of passengers and road users.
According to an official release, the STCs in Tamil Nadu operate 20,861 buses to various parts of the country and 2.1 crore passengers use them every day. In Chennai metropolitan area alone, 55 lakh passengers commute by these vehicles.
To improve the services and provide passengers better vehicles, the Chief Minister had ordered the purchase of 3,000 new buses at a cost of Rs.539.83 crore. They would replace the buses which were six years old and those that had clocked seven lakh kilometres.
Besides, the government decided to refurbish those vehicles whose chassis and engine were in good condition but not the superstructure. Accordingly, 1,432 vehicles were selected in the first phase and the Chief Minister ordered their refurbishment at a cost of Rs.97.58 crore.
A special feature of the new buses procured for the Tamil Nadu Express Transport Corporation is that they have emergency exits.
Those who took part in the function included Transport Minister V. Senthil Balaji, Chief Secretary Debendranath Sarangi, and Transport Secretary T. Prabhakararao.
