MTC to ply BS4 Red Bus as ordinary fare bus
The average age of the MTC bus is 9.34 years with nearly 1,643 buses over nine years and above on May 31 this year. The BS4 Red Buses were procured in 2019.
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CHENNAI: Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) has instructed its branch manager to identify and operate the BS4 Red Bus - relatively newer buses - as the ordinary fare buses following the scrapping of the aged buses from its fleet.
MTC has a fleet of 3,372 buses and operates 3,233 scheduled services on various routes in the city transporting over 32 lakh passengers a day. Of the 3,233 services, it operates 1,559 ordinary services, 1,339 deluxe services, and 141 express services.
The average age of the MTC bus is 9.34 years with nearly 1,643 buses over nine years and above on May 31 this year. The BS4 Red Buses were procured in 2019.
However, the MTC has added 269 low-floor buses and 110 new high-floor buses to its fleets in the last few months. With the addition of the new buses, the MTC has started removing damaged and over-aged buses from its fleet.
In the circular to the branch managers, the MTC joint managing director has instructed that the new low-floor buses being operated in the deluxe bus routes, and the surplus BS4 red buses in the deluxe routes would be operated as the ordinary fare (pink bus) buses where women could travel free under the Vidiyal Payanam scheme. “Whenever there is a requirement of the ordinary fare buses, the BS4 Red Bus should be painted pink and operated in the ordinary fare routes after consultation with the technical staff,” it said.