The State Transport Department has begun operating 11,500 buses to Chennai from various parts of the State for four days from Wednesday for people who had travelled to their native places for Deepavali to return.

The Metropolitan Transport Corporation would also be operating 250 special buses to provide the last mile connectivity from the six locations — Koyambedu, Madhavaram, K.K. Nagar, Tambaram Sanatorium, Tambaram and Poonnamallee — to help passengers to reach their destinations.

More passengers

A total of 7.37 lakh passengers commuted from Chennai to various parts of the State from November 2 to 5 with the operation of 13,563 buses from these six locations.

A senior official said this was the first time more than 7 lakh passengers travelled in government buses, which was 1.84 lakh commuters more compared to the last year.

This year 2,570 more buses were operated.

The Koyambedu terminus transported nearly four lakh commuters in 7,197 buses.

From Poonamallee bus terminus, 1.46 commuters travelled in 2,778 buses and 60,613 passengers travelled in 1,118 buses from the K.K. Nagar bus terminus, officials said.