TNSTC ready to operate buses at short notice

Coimbatore: The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC), Coimbatore region, has made all the required arrangements to operate mofussil buses to faraway districts in the wake of chief minister M K Stalin permitting all the government and private buses to ply on Saturday and Sunday, before the complete lockdown with no relaxations begins in the state for a week from Monday.
A TNSTC official, who didn’t want to be named, said, “We decided to operate buses to the districts such as Salem, Madurai, Trichy and Theni from Singanallur and Gandhipuram bus stands, taking the demand into consideration. We are operating at least 10 buses to each district and each bus will make two trips, which will be increased based on the demand.”
He said that shortly after the chief minister’s announcement, buses were kept ready for service under the monitoring of supervisors and other staff. “We have directed the conductors to fill only 50% of the seats in a bus to reduce the chances of virus transmission from one passenger to another.”
As of 6pm, the official said, seven buses had left Singanallur bus stand and not even 50% of the seats was filled. “The passenger traffic may increase on Sunday. Since the announcement came in only afternoon, the public might take their time to decide and make arrangements to travel back to their hometowns. As the complete lockdown was already in force with only select industries allowed to function, many outsiders would have already returned home. The transportation service has resumed only to assist the ones who had missed the opportunity to return home earlier.”
The official said they had also made arrangements to operate about 150 town buses in the district on Sunday.