Chennai bus depots in total disarray – Times of India

CHENNAI: They are frequented by millions of people daily, but most government bus terminals in the city are in terrible shape, with hardly any passenger facilities.
The bay at the Ayanavaram terminus in central Chennai, used by at least 200 MTC buses daily, is almost entirely used as a parking lot by private vehicles, mainly belonging to people coming for driving licence tests and vehicle registrations at the adjacent Regional Transport Office building.
Some of these vehicles are parked at the entrance of the terminus, forcing drivers of buses to park on the roadside. The two rows of seats for waiting passengers are damaged. “Usually bus frequency is poor after the lunch hour and we stand in the sun and rain for 15-20 minutes,” said B Satish, a regular commuter.
T Sadagopan, a resident-activist from Avadi, said that almost all bus terminuses in the western suburbs lack urinals and toilets and those that are available are unclean. At Avadi, the urinal is located inside the branch manager’s office and kept under lock and key. Passengers, mostly senior citizens who are diabetic, are at the mercy of officials to use it, he said.
Another basic facility that is lacking is access to clean drinking water. The Amma Water Scheme, welcomed by all sections, has been given a silent burial and even MTC staff are forced to buy water from private shops in the vicinity, say workers’ unions.
The terminus at Broadway, where more than 650 buses on 70 different routes arrive and depart daily and which attracts more than 1 lakh footfalls daily, has been neglected for long. A Greater Chennai Corporation official said a detailed proposal was submitted to the Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Development Board (TNIDB) for a 900-crore project to transform the facility with demarcated space for bus bays, a multi-storey parking complex, commercial space and rail connectivity.
V Rama Rao of the Traffic and Transportation Forum commuters had been waiting for the past 20 years but the corporation has not moved to mitigate their woes.
A senior MTC official said transport minister R S Rajakannapan recently visited the Amma water bottling plant in Gummidipoondi and promised to expand production.
The Union urban affairs ministry, in its manual for city bus depots, mandates installation of Public Address Systems with alarms, but none of the terminals visited by TOI Ayanavaram, Broadway, Foreshore Estate, Velachery and Ambattur had them. “Signages and PA systems play an important role in regulating pedestrian movement. Commuting can be easier for passengers, particularly those from other districts or states who are unfamiliar with city bus routes, if relevant information of bus arrival/departure timings and directions are provided through PA systems in multiple languages,” said T Rengachari, a transportation activist.