Pongal: Buses ferry nearly 10 lakh people from Chennai

CHENNAI: The regular and special services operated by the State Transport Corporations and omnibuses ferried nearly 10 lakh people from Chennai to their native places for the Pongal festival from January 10 to 12.

Inspecting the operation of special services at Kalaignar Centenary Bus Terminus at Kilambakkam, Transport Minister SS Sivasankar said as of Monday 6 pm, 7,59,048 passengers travelled on the 13,830 buses, including 6,106 special services, that were operated from three bus terminuses - Kilambakkam, Koyambedu, and Madhavaram.

He said the corporations operated 2,367 buses till 6 pm on Monday, carrying 1,18,583 passengers. For the Pongal festival, the transport undertakings announced the operation of 21,904 buses, including 14,104 buses from Chennai and 7,800 buses from other parts of the State from January 10 to 13, to facilitate the travel of people returning to their hometowns.

An official release said 1,89,650 passengers have booked to travel in government buses from Chennai and other places on the occasion of Pongal. Last year, 1,47,658 passengers booked and travelled.

A senior transport corporation official said the department has estimated that 7.75 lakh people have travelled out of the city but it could surpass eight lakh. "With 1,000-odd buses to be operated on Monday, there would be always a last-minute rush for travel to northern districts. We expect the number of passengers to go up to eight lakh," the official said.

Meanwhile, omnibuses operators said 1.90 lakh passengers travelled out of the city on 4,766 buses operated since January 10. According to A Anbazhagan, president, All Omni Bus Owners Association, there were no major complaints regarding high fares this time, which he attributed to the fact that the public had four days (Friday, weekend, and Monday) to travel.

"Most omnibuses charged only normal fares during the festival this year,” he claimed.