Chennai Mini-bus scheme tweaked to augment last-mile connectivity

CHENNAI: To enhance the accessibility of bus services and to provide last-mile connectivity, the state government has notified a draft of a new comprehensive mini-bus scheme, 2024 under the Motor Vehicles Act.

The scheme aims to augment the total distance served by the bus services to 25 km from the existing 20 km and also allow overlapping of bus routes up to 8 km.

According to the mini-bus scheme draft, the maximum permitted route length would be 25 km comprising 17 km of maximum un-served route and 8 km of maximum served route length with the 70:30 ratios. As per the existing policy, the minibuses were allowed to ply on a maximum route length of 20 km and a maximum served route length of four km.

Under the new policy, the government will operate the mini-buses across the state except the Chennai Corporation zones of Tondiarpet, Royapuram, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, Anna Nagar, Teynampet, Kodambakkam and Adyar.

The newly added zones in the Greater Chennai Corporation including Tiruvottiyur, Manali, Madhavaram, Ambattur, Valasarawakkam, Alandur, Perungudi and Sholinganallur would be treated as unserved neighbourhoods for the operation of the minibuses.

The Regional Transport Authority (RTO) will conduct a survey and identify the mini-bus route.

In case any adjoining areas within the next one km from the terminal point of the mini-bus happen to be a hospital, educational institution, railway station or just before a bus stand, the RTO could permit the additional distance of up to 1 km in served areas.

The mini-bus policy draft was released following the announcement by Finance Minister Thangam Thenarasu in the state budget this year.

The persons likely to be affected by the new policy may send their objections or suggestions to the Principal Secretary of the Home Department within 30 days of publication of the notification on June 13.