Public fume as cab, autos hike fare
The MTC strike left countless people stranded on the roads, without a bus to take them back home, even as prices of cabs and autos skyrocketed due to the increasing demand.
By : migrator
Update: 2018-01-04 19:55 GMT
Chennai
Little did Kavitha G, a 25-year-old software professional, know that her day would turn into a nightmare. Having taken a bus in the morning to Guindy from Tambaram, she waited at the bus depot in the evening for her return journey.
Minutes ticked by and even after an hour, no bus turned up.
“I took a share auto to the railway station and found that the prices have been doubled. The drivers were clearly taking advantage of the situation, fleecing the passengers. I managed to take a train from Guindy but only after waiting for more than an hour in a queue, the kind of which I saw only during demonetisation,” she said, adding that the Police personnel were trying to help the stranded passengers in certain parts of the city. “In Tambaram, the Police personnel were warning auto drivers not to fleece the passengers,” she said. The lack of buses on the road ensured that the auto drivers hiked up their prices and the surge pricing made cabs unaffordable for many people.
People who had to return to their homes in the suburbs were hit hard. Saravanan, a junior professional, said that he was trying to return to his home in Avadi from Tambaram. “I really don’t know how I will reach home since there are no buses and the cabs are charging close to Rs 1,000,” he rued.
Commuters protest before depots, squat inside buses
As news of the stand-off in the talks spread among the MTC employees, many of the drivers drove the buses to the depots, while some halted the vehicles along the road. The employees also staged protests before depots in Tiruvanmaiyur, Koyambedu and Vadapalani. In some places, commuters also staged protests inside buses, when the crew forced them to alight. This also pushed passengers into a dilemma on trying to find an alternative mode of transport. S Kannan, a painter, who was waiting in Egmore (North) bus stand, said, “I have been waiting for one hour in the bus stand, but there is not a single bus. I have to reach Ponnamallee.”
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