Commuters demand reconstruction of bus stop at Erikarai bypass

CHENNAI: Tired of being ignored by passing buses, commuters from Erikarai demand Maduranthagam municipality reconstruct the bus stop at the locality to travel to the city.

The Maduranthagam Municipality is located 80 kilometres away from Chennai and comes under the Chengalpattu district. The villages like Karunkuli, Acharapakkam and more than 100 villages are located in the Maduranthagam municipality. Every day thousands of residents from these villages travel to Chennai city every day for their work.

A few years ago a bus stop was constructed in Maduranthagam on the Maduranthagam bypass road near Erikarai. The bus stop was handy for the people who needed to travel to Chennai from Maduranthagam as all the other district buses would stop at the Erikarai bus stop. The people travelling to the southern districts of Tamil Nadu also used this bus stop.

However, since the bus stop was too small, all the buses had to stop on the Bypass road for boarding and deboarding of passengers. This affected the traffic heavily during the peak hours and especially during festival seasons the traffic would be choked for up to two kilometres because of the bus stop.

Many accidents have also been since reported as the vehicles would collide with the buses while they halt for the passengers on the bypass.

A few months ago, while passengers were boarding a government bus heading towards Chennai from Tiruvannamalai at the Erikarai bus stop, a vehicle which was speeding rammed into the bus and many commuters were injured. After the incident, all Tiruvannamalai buses started to skip the Erikarai bus stop. Private buses also avoid this stopping as there is no adequate facility.

Maduranthagam residents lament that the buses never stop during peak hours affecting their commute to the city for work, and are forced to wait for buses that arrive in relatively non-peak hours.

The residents want the officials to move the bus stop to the two-acre government land which is a few metres away or extend the existing bus stop with provisions for buses to halt and pick up the passengers.

An official of the Maduranthagam municipality said there are plans to move the bus stop to a different place and construct it with all the facilities. “However, we cannot do that now as the highways department is planning to extend the road into an eight-lane expressway and once they extend the road the bus stop will be moved to a place convenient for the people,” the officer added.