Commuters travelling on certain routes in the city are unable to comprehend the pricing mechanism followed by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC). They are confused about the different rates being charged for the same destination.
N. Mahadevan, a resident of Mylapore, during his regular travel from Velachery to K.K. Nagar complained that the conductor charged different rates for the same destination in different category of buses.
He said he was charged ₹13 in an express bus originating from the Velachery terminus, while in the return direction he was charged ₹15 in the same type of bus.
The next day when he travelled in a deluxe bus, the conductor charged him ₹19 from Velachery to K.K. Nagar but paid ₹25 for his return travel.
Ccommuters headed to Poonamallee from Velachery also complained about different ticket prices.
When asked about the different prices for the same destination in the Velachery-K.K. Nagar route, a senior MTC official said it was due to the removal of right turn at the Halda junction of GST Road and Sardar Patel Road and diversion of buses through the taluk office Road for Metro rail work.
He said this diversion resulted in one extra stage and additional kilometres.
The official said they had been urging the Chennai Traffic Police to allow a U-turn at the Halda junction as the Metro work has been completed.
However, the request is yet to be permitted.