The spacious Metropolitan Transport Corporation terminus (MTC) at MMDA Colony in Choolaimedu is not being put to optimum use. Though the facility can accomodate eight buses at a time, only two are parked there. And, at present, only two MTC services halt at this terminus: They are 15G (from MMDA to Broadway via Aminjikarai, KMC and Central railway station) and 27B (srom MMDA to Anna Square via Aminjikarai, Egmore and Triplicane). Commuters complain that the 27B service is not sufficiently frequent.
As a result, some of them say, they travel all the way to Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) in Koyambedu to board other services.
Residents say that at close of day, the buses of these two services are parked only at Anna Nagar West depot. At any time of the day, the facility which was renovated two years ago, looks desolate. Besides, it is not being maintained well, say commuters. A portion of the compound wall, believed to have been damaged by miscreants last year, has not been rebuilt. The benches at the terminus are occupied by mendicants.
For want of adequate services, the terminus does not register a good footfall. Therefore, the handful of commuters who use the facility at night are concerned about their safety and they wait near the entrance of the terminus.
Besides, at night, drivers of trucks and autorickshaws make use of the terminus as a parking lot. “Many services are not operated from this terminus because the approach roads to the terminus are quite narrow and can cause traffic snarls,” says an MTC official.