Commuters irked by damaged bus shelters on East Coast Road

Between Thiruvanmiyur and Vettuvankani on East Coast Road (ECR), most bus shelters are primitive-looking and lacking in facilities or damaged. The modern ones, which include the bus stop near the Thiruvanmiyur RTO office, are strikingly few in number.

There are seven key stops between Thiruvanmiyur and Vettuvankani. These include the ones at Neelankarai, Palavakkam, Ijambakkam and Kottivakkam.

Buses from Tambaram, Velachery, Broadway, Tollgate (Tiruvottiyur) and T. Nagar halt at these bus stops before proceeding to tourists spots like Kovalam, Muttukadu and Mamallapuram on ECR, which is maintained by the State Highways Department.

According to an MTC official, during rush hour, each stop receives a bus every five minutes.

“Most of the bus shelters on the stretch are damaged. As the stretch is narrow, there are often no trees or petty shops for us to take shelter at,” says V. Sivakumar, a commuter from Kottivakkam.

After the the merger of outlying areas with the Corporation, in 2011, the areas between Thiruvanmiyur and Vettuvankani came under the Adyar zone of the civic body. As it is a state highway, ECR is maintained by the State Highways Department. The widening of ECR, which includes the stretch between Thiruvanmiyur and Vettuvankani, is a pending project.

Currently, revenue officials of the Kancheepuram district (as these areas fall under that district) are in the process of acquiring land for the widening work.

As a result, State Highways officials say, the replacement of old bus shelters with new ones or renovation of existing bus shelters are considered a wasteful exercise, as most of such facilities will be removed.

“As bus shelters are maintained by the civic body, they (Corporation) can repair the damaged bus shelters. However, with the widening work expected to start any time, the money spent on the repair work may be considered wasteful,” says a State Highways official.