CHENNAI: Though the patronage of Metropolitan Transportation Corporation (MTC) plummeted after the steep hike in bus fares recently, the department has witnessed a sharp spike in the subscription of Rs 1,000 -Travel As You Please (TAYP) passes. As against the usual number of 50,000-55,000 passes per month, 79,000 passes were sold this month.
“Last year, in February 64,000 passes were sold and the number came down to 54,000 last month owing to confusion among passengers about the bus passes and misconception due to social media forwards about the prices being surged. However, this month, we witnessed an all-time hike,”said an MTC official. He further added that, of 79,000 subscribers, 21,000 are new applicants and so far, the revenue after "re-introduction" of the Rs 1,000 TAYP pass is 7.9 crore.
Apart from this, 24,000 passengers applied for the first time for monthly season tickets (MST) and the department incurred revenue of Rs 1.5 crore from MST. “One of the prime reasons for the reduction of patronage is that a major chunk of commuters shifted to suburban trains after the fares spiked and the department stopped issuing passes. However, as the issue settled to an extent after the re-introduction of monthly passes, the commuters will get back to buses that accommodate travel from nearest transit point, thereby cutting cost of travel to the railway station,” said an official and said the effect will be known after a month as railways issues passes for three months and commuters would stick to it till their passes get expired. The officials expect nearly 1-lakh TAYP monthly pass subscriptions within a couple of months. This would balance the deficit in revenue that plummeted after bus commuters shifted to trains. On the other hand, daily bus passes, which the officials seem to be tight lipped about have “almost” been scraped - only awaiting an official judgment.
