Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur: Arterial roads in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur breathed easy with less traffic on Monday as more than 70 per cent of government buses stayed off the roads. Public relying on government transport suffered for the second consecutive day as the third round of talks late in evening by ministers and state officials insisting workers to end the strike failed.
To help passengers reaching at Koyambedu moffusil bus terminus, additional buses from Dharmapuri, Thanjavur, Kancheepuram and Villupuram were brought in to help passengers leaving Chennai. Video coach and multi-axle air conditioned buses of private companies were also seen operated on ECR and OMR routes bearing the route boards of Metropolitan Transport Corporation and State Express Transport Corporations.
Kancheepuram district collector P. Ponniah and Tiruvallur collector A. Sundaravalli reached out to private education institutions in Greater Chennai. IT firms and automobile majors were also requested to provide their fleet along with drivers to assist the government in helping stranded passengers.
“An official attached to the collectorate spoke to our chairman demanding 10 buses, but we agreed to give six of our drivers with two busses”, a senior manager with an educational institution in Maduravoyal told DC.
Private bus operators had a busy day with some of the service providers fleecing public charging up to Rs 50 per ticket from Koyambedu to Perungalathur, double the usual charge. Omni and private mini bus drivers also zipped through the city helping stranded passengers collecting flat charges ranging from Rs 10, Rs 20 and Rs 30. “The minimal charge in a government bus is Rs 4, but on Monday even the government buses operated by temporary staff collected Rs 10. Further the monthly season tickets were also not accepted”, said R. Gopalakrishnan, a regular MTC passenger residing in Kolathur.
