Sivasankar flags off South-bound mofussil bus services from Madhavaram for benefit of North Chennai residents

CHENNAI: To provide easy access for North Chennai residents to board South-bound buses, Transport Minister SS Sivasankar on Tuesday flagged off the operation of 160 mofussil buses plying via Chengalpattu and Tindivanam from Madhavaram Mofussil Bus Terminus (MMBT).

The operation of the GST road-bound buses from Madhavaram would help the residents of Thiruvottiyur, RK Nagar and Royapuram Assembly constituencies avoid travelling all the way to Kalaignar Centenary Bus Terminus at Kilambakkam, Minister Sivasankar told reporters after flagging off the bus operation at MMBT.

Apart from the operation of buses bound to Tirupati (90 services) and other parts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, MMBT would also house the buses bound to Trichy (18 services), Salem (17), Virudhachalam (6), Kallakurichi (16), Villupuram (16), Kumbakonam (14), Chidambaram (5), Neyveli (11), Cuddalore (5), Puducherry (10), Tiruvannamalai (25) and Vandavasi (20). A total of 160 services bound to ply via GST road would be operated from MMBT. All the buses from the MMBT would ply via Maduravoyal through Chennai Bypass, he said.

On the operation of buses to southern districts like Madurai and Tirunelveli from Madhavaram, he said it would be considered in the future based on the needs of the people and patronage for the existing services.

To a query, the Minister said that people had faced difficulties when the mofussil buses were shifted from Parrys to Koyambedu. It will take some time to adjust and understand.

Pointing out that KCBT was planned during the AIADMK rule, he said that the DMK government did not scrap the bus terminus proposal planned by the previous government.

“The project was proposed to decongest Chennai City. We completed 70 per cent of the remaining work and put it to use. The KCBT has facilities akin to the airport,” he said.

He further added, “For People living in Tambaram, they had to come all the way to board buses at Koyambedu but now they can do so at Kilambakkam. For those in Thiruvanmiyur and Adyar, it will be the same distance to travel to Koyambedu and Kilambakkam. For the people in North Chennai, now they can board the buses at Madhavaram without any hassle.”

On connectivity to Kilambakkam terminus from the city, he said that MTC operates 1400 new services to KCBT in addition to the existing 2000 services.

“MTC operates buses to Koyambedu every five minutes, every three minutes to Guindy, and two minutes to Tambaram. “Like Koyambedu, MTC operates buses to KCBT from all the localities of the city,” he said.