Bus commuters complain of a drop in the frequency of services that are operated from East and West Tambaram termini to Broadway and beyond. They are also refering to buses that bus through the West Tambaram bus terminus on the way to Broadway.
The services whose frequency they want to be increased include 1B (West Tambaram-Thiruvottiyur), B18 (Korukkupet-West Tambaram), 21GX (Vandalur Zoo-Broadway), E18 (Guduvanchery-Broadway) and A51 (East Tambaram to Broadway).
According to commuters, during rush hour, most of these services were operated every 10 or 20 minutes.
Now, the waiting period is on the higher side.
Instead of waiting for these services, some commuters break their journey. They board G18 (T. Nagar-Guduvanchery), 5A (East Tambaram-T. Nagar), B51 (East Tambaram-T. Nagar) or V51 (West Tambaram-T. Nagar), alight at Guindy and from there, take a bus to Anna Salai.
R. Raghu, who travels to Anna Salai, says, “Apart from increasing the frequencies of the existing buses, steps should be taken to re-introduce PP21 (Broadway-Guduvanchery), PP51 (East Tambaram-Broadway), 18A (East Tambaram-Broadway), which were plying through Sardar Patel Road, Kamarajar Salai and Anna Salai. Several representations to the MTC officials about this have not evoked a response.”
The IT Corridor
Residents of localities along the IT corridor face the same problem, but due to slightly different reasons. There is a service from Kelambakkam to Broadway (102) and another from Kannagi Nagar to Broadway (T21). In addition, there is also a service from Kannagi Nagar to Chennai Central (M21C).
Some commuters seeking to reach Broadway fight shy of using these services, especially during rush hour, as these buses crawl like a snail on certain sections of the IT Corridor, especially Tidel Park, due to congestion and increase travel time.
They go in for the alternative of reaching Medavakkam, often taking share autos, and from there board buses to Guindy, where they take another bus. Such commuters would happy if frequency of buses from East Tambaram to Broadway is increased.
An MTC official says, “Patronage of some of these services has dropped, and this has forced us to reduce their frequency.”
