Over 6 lakh people leave Chennai for native places in 15,000 buses in 3 days

CHENNAI: Passengers leaving for their native places to celebrate Deepavali festival thronged the three-bus terminus, particularly the Kalaignar Centenary Bus Terminus at Kilambakkam on Wednesday. More than six lakh people have been leaving the city in the past three days.

Reviewing the bus operation at Kilambakkam, Transport Minister SS Sivasankar said, “As of 6 pm on Wednesday, 2,440 buses transported over 1.33 lakh passengers from the terminus. Since Monday, over 3.41 lakh passengers have left the city for their native places. We expect 1 more lakh to leave for which we have kept buses ready.”

The Transport department had made arrangements to operate 11,176 buses from Chennai to various parts of the State from October 28-30 expecting 5 lakh people to travel out of the city.

All Omni Bus Owners Association president A Anbalagan said that 1.77 lakh people travelled from the city to their hometowns on 4,425 buses since Monday. “Steps taken by the government have helped decongest Koyambedu, Maduravoyal and Poonamallee. However, there is traffic congestion from Vandalur to Chengalpattu with buses getting stuck for over two hours. We demand the State government take steps to make arrangements for parking the buses in Kilambakkam, scrap the collection of entrance fee and cancel toll collection at Paranur toll plaza to ensure free movement of the vehicles.”

People throng Kilambakkam Bus Terminus ahead of Deepavali (Photo: J Yuvaraj)

Speaking to reporters, the minister said that the buses were being operated from all three termini at Kilambakkam, Koyambedu and Madhavaram sans any issues. “The number of people booking their tickets has increased to 1.50 lakh for this Deepavali when compared to 1.10 lakh in the last year,” he said. “Even omnibuses are approaching the transport corporations to operate their buses during festival time.”

On the operation of private buses through a hiring basis, he said that it helps the government save money, avoid diversion of buses and increase workloads for corporation bus crew. “Hiring private buses is cheaper than operating government buses. We also don’t need to procure additional buses for the few days’ demand during festival time,” he stated.

Meanwhile, at Kilambakkam terminus, passengers lamented over the lack of guidance to direct them to specific bus bays. “The transport corporations have kept boards with the bus destination, route number and departure timing with the mobile number of the bus conductor. But when we dial the number, the conductor doesn’t answer the call, or the number is switched off,” S Manikandan, a passenger from Virugambakkam said.

Some passengers complained about the poor network connections at ATMs in the terminus leading to longer queues. Lack of seating facilities at the terminus was another issue, as many were forced to sit on the floor while waiting for the bus. An official at the KCBT said that the terminus has a seating facility for 2,000 people at a time spreading across the terminus.

Govidan K, a resident of Avadi, who came to board a bus to Dindigul, said, “The huge parking space for the two-wheeler is a mess with nobody managing it. Workers are deployed at counters to collect money for parking but no one is there to regulate it. People are leaving vehicles in a disorderly manner,” he complained.