MTC adds 50 more buses to Sunday night services

Rama Rao, the Project Director of Traffic and Transportation Forum, said, “The forum has received complaints from the commuters. They are facing trouble in finding buses to reach places like Koyambedu and Chennai Central after 10 pm.”

“Earlier, the frequency of buses to Koyambedu was quite good. As many as 990 buses plied, with each bus arriving once in every 20-25 minutes. Nowadays, the frequency of buses is low. Thus, we end up waiting for an hour at the stop,” said a regular commuter.

Sources said the number of buses services in the night was reduced after the transport utility incurred a huge loss. The MTC regularly operates 68 night services at selective routes on regular days. Recently, the corporation started plying deluxe buses during the night hours — between 10 pm and 5 am. It operates buses from the selected routes to the destinations including Poonamallee, Tiruvottriyur and Central.

An MTC official said, “It is true that the night services run by the Corporation has less patronage. Still, we are plying the services only to benefit the public.” In addition, the MTC authorities claim that the usual bus services during the nights are operated without any change in the timings.

“After witnessing a huge demand on Sunday nights, we increased the number of buses. But besides this, the regular services are maintained without any changes on the ordinary days,” said a top official from the MTC.