CHENNAI: With more than 80 per cent of government buses going off the roads in Chennai, cab aggregators and auto drivers had a field day charging exorbitant amount from commuters several of whom faced harrowing experience getting a ride.
As 8,000 buses remained off the roads, commuters were forced to depend on local trains, autos and cabs. The cab aggregators also provided offers for those travelling outskirts, but the charges were almost double.
“No auto driver switched on the meters and all the cabs surged their prices by at least 50-70 percent. As the buses were out of sight, we had no other option but to pay the exorbitant charges,” said S Vijay, a resident of Saidapet.
Cab drivers said bookings had been continuous throughout the day and they had an opportunity to make up for the losses that they suffered due to a day-long strike on Wednesday.
However, they had to cancel a few trips due to the long waiting period. This, in turn, had caused delay and inconvenience to many commuters even after accepting to pay the sky-high fares charged by cabs.
“I had to cancel a few appointments for the day as the cabs had a waiting period of 45 minutes to an hour while booking within the city due to high demand. The cab drivers cancelled the booking twice, stating the long duration of the waiting period. Despite accepting to pay higher fares, I could not reach my destination on time,” said G. Riya, a resident of Guindy.
While the local trains remained overcrowded all throughout the day, students and office-goers had to face difficulties during peak hours. People travelling outskirts chose to travel by train, as the SETC service was also affected. Regular commuters had to choose EMU trains, which were running their full capacity through the day.
“I waited for more than an hour to find a less crowded train while travelling from Mambalam to Tambaram around 6 pm. With no buses plying, trains were three times more crowded than usual,” said S. Ilavarasan, a regular commuter from Mambalam.
Metro gets more passengers
Metro rails witnessed an unprecedented crowd as CMRL turned out to be a cheaper mode of transport due to bus strike, with high cab and auto fares. CMRL saw a record footfall of around 30,000 passengers travelled in Chennai Metro train on Thursday, while on Friday 32,750 passengers travelled in metro rail, said CMRL officials.
Metro trains were heavily crowded as they were the only public transport available in places with no suburban train network. Metro stations in northern parts of Chennai were very crowded and compartments were jam-packed at peak hours.
“We were prepared to handle the crowd expecting additional passengers than usual. An additional 7,000 passengers traveled in metro on Thursday, so we were prepared and equipped to handle the increased footfall on Friday also," said a CMRL official.
Sources from CMRL said that Koyambedu, Nehru Park, Thirumangalam, Alandur, Vadapalani and Alandur were the stations with highest footfall on Friday.
“Usually the metro rail is crowded only during weekend evenings or festivals. However, the metro rail had a similar scene as the local trains have usually during the peak hours, with an increased crowd,” said V Rajan, a regular metro rail commuter.
