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November 21, 2023 10:13 pm | Updated 10:13 pm IST
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Many bus stops have no shelters in the city. Many shelters are in poor condition. Here, commuters waiting to board a bus in the middle of the road at the Murugan Temple bus stand at Vadapalani. | Photo Credit: B. VELANKANNI RAJ
The importance of having good bus shelters is keenly felt by the commuters during the scorching summer and the monsoon in the city. Hundreds of bus shelters dotting the roads in the city are in a poor condition. The commuters get drenched when it rains, finding no difference between standing outside or in the bus shelters because of the leaky roofs.
If, on the one hand, the commuters are forced to put up with the leaky bus shelters, on the other hand, several bus shelters have been encroached upon by tea-shops, homeless people, and stray cattle. Commuters complain that the bus shelters in various parts of the city, including at Saidapet, Velachery, Thiruvanmiyur, Triplicane, Chromepet, and Pallavaram, have been encroached upon by commercial establishments, hawkers, and homeless people. While public transport is run by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC), the bus shelters are being maintained by the Chennai Corporation.
Regular commuters are complaining about the deteriorating condition of several bus shelters which have not been maintained properly or have been demolished for the implementation of various infrastructure projects. Bus shelters on several important routes of the city and the suburbs are in a poor condition. There are some stretches of arterial roads that have no bus shelters at all.
Social activist Vidya Sagar points to the phenomenal commercial growth of Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Radial Road where several information technology companies and multi-storey residential complexes have come up and MTC buses are operated. He is upset at the absence of bus shelters on the entire stretch so far as GST Road, except for a shelter near Kamakshi Hospital. Moreover, with the road being widened and the storm water drain being built on the busy road, commuters have to manage with no bus shelters, he adds.
Some commuters say that Vijaynagar at Velachery is an important bus stop in the city, but it has no shelter on the east side where several buses proceeding towards Tambaram and Madipakkam stop.
A few years ago, hundreds of bus shelters were modernised by the Chennai Corporation.
When the city was expanded, it had more than 1,350 bus shelters maintained by the Corporation in 2011. The State government had planned to modernise the bus shelters in various parts of the city, considering their poor condition. However, the project, which was planned in 2011, was executed only in 2016. The bus shelters were renovated with stainless steel at no cost to the Chennai Corporation. The project, executed on a build, operate, and transfer (BOT) basis, also raked in a huge revenue for the civic body. The shiny bus shelters were put up at nearly 700 places. The project was planned to be expanded to replace the other poorly maintained bus shelters. Even after the 500 bus shelters were taken up for modernisation, 650 more bus shelters remained in a bad state. They included over 600 shelters held by the MTC with no maintenance carried out.
The project, which had helped to improve the condition of the bus shelters and was a model for the renovation of 700 more bus shelters, has been shelved after anti-social elements removed the steel seats installed for commuters and other accessories at several bus shelters and the modern display boards, meant for advertisements, were defaced with political posters. The project, which was to have run for a decade even in the 700 bus shelters where it was implemented, has been abandoned.
Commuters lament that in the wake of the Metro Rail project being executed on several arterial roads, including Rajiv Gandhi Salai, Mount-Poonamallee Road, and Arcot Salai, the bus shelters have been dismantled.
At Pattabhiram, commuters have to stand on the road as the bus shelters have been demolished for the road over-bridge project. Similarly, Chennai-Tiruvallur High Road, which links the city to Tiruvallur district, is an important route for hundreds of MTC buses bound for Ambattur Industrial Estate, Ambattur OT, and Avadi. The route from Ambattur OT to Avadi, where the commuter density is high, there are no proper bus shelters. The New Military High Road linking Avadi to Poonamallee does not have proper bus shelters at several stops. The route from Ambattur to Red Hills, through Kallikuppam, also suffers from the same problem.
Consumer activist T. Sadagopan points out that good bus shelters are part of an efficient public transport system, similar to the clean and well-maintained railway stations. But several bus shelters and bus termini are not maintained properly, he says.
A senior official of the Chennai Corporation says the modernisation project, to be executed at 750 places, is in an advanced stage. It will be carried out through public-private partnership. The Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Development Board is the nodal agency for the project, which will ensure free Wi-Fi access and other amenities for passengers. The stress would be on passenger amenities rather than on revenue realisation, the aim of the previous project, he adds.
A senior official of the Tambaram Corporation, which has several important bus route roads, confirms that the civic body has sent a proposal to the government for modernisation of bus shelters.
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