Intra-district bus services of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation, which were suspended in view of COVID-19 pandemic, resumed in Tiruchi and other parts of the central region on Tuesday.

However, private buses were still off the road as operators felt that restricted operations within districts would be economically unviable.

The Central Bus Stand in the city buzzed with activity as buses began plying to various destinations. But it was only half of the TNSTC fleet in Tiruchi due to poor patronage on the first day of resumption of services.

Official sources said that out of 930 buses in Tiruchi region, which included depots in Ariyalur, Jayankondam and Perambalur, only 400 were operated. A majority of them were town or city buses that plied up to a short distance. Crew members, who reported for duty early in the day, were sensitised to social distancing norms while taking passengers aboard and issuing tickets. They were given hand sanitisers for application on the hands of passengers. They then drove their buses, which were disinfected at depots overnight, to the bus stands.

“We have been asked to limit passengers to 30 at any given time. But the patronage was not as expected on the first day. However, we ensured compliance of social distancing norms,” said I. Radhakrishan, TNSTC conductor in a Tiruchi-Dindigul bus.

During peak hours, some buses could still be seen with passengers occupying all seats.

Most of the passengers, who came to Central Bus Stand, were headed to Coimbatore, Karur, Dindigul, Thanjavur, Tiruppur and other places. But they were asked to alight at the district border. On Tiruchi-Dindigul Highway, the buses were operated up to Ponnambalapatti near Vaiyampatti. On Tiruchi-Karur and Tiruchi-Thanjavur Highways, they were operated up to Pettavaithalai and Pudukudi. Many passengers complained of hardship on being forced to alight at the district border and then trek some distance to catch another bus on the other side.

A group of four travellers, who began their journey from Thiruchitrambalam in Thanjavur district to Tiruppur, had to change three buses to reach Tiruchi enroute to Tiruppur.

“From our village in Thanjavur district, we travelled for 5 km to reach a place in Pudukottai district, took a second bus up to Mathur and finally boarded a third one to Tiruchi. Now, we have boarded a bus to travel up to Pettavaithalai on Tiruchi-Karur border. We do not know how many buses we need to change before reaching Tiruppur,” said S. Perumal of Thiruchitrambalam.

K. Hari, another passenger, said many Tiruchi residents had to change buses to reach Karur and then catch town buses to reach their workplaces. Hence, the State government should ease the curbs on inter-district bus transport.