Chennai: 10 more small buses as feeder services for metro commuters

CHENNAI: Ten MTC small buses linking five metro stations were launched as feeder services providing metro rail commuters with last-mile connectivity. The routes include Government Estate metro to Secretariat, Guindy Metro to Velachery Vijayanagar bus stop, Little Mount station to Taramani and Shenoy Nagar to T Nagar terminus.
Earlier this year, 12 MTC small buses were launched as feeder services. CMRL plans to extend MTC feeder services to all 41 metro stations. "To reach my workplace in T Nagar, I either take an MTC bus or switch from Central metro to Park station suburban train because I could not take the metro to anywhere close to T Nagar. The journey takes more time and is tiring. Introducing a feeder bus from Shenoy Nagar will make my travel faster," said S Geetha, a resident of Tiruvottiyur.
MTC has also come out with 50 pink-coloured buses in which women passengers can travel for free. The move is aimed at helping women spot them from a distance. These buses will be operated along routes 2A(Anna Square-Kavignar Kannadasan Nagar), 13(T Nagar-Broadway), 26(Iyyapanthangal-Broadway), 29C (Perambur-Besant Nagar) and (Tambaram-Poonamalle). These routes were selected because of the presence of a number of women's colleges and girls' schools.
Though the intention is right, MTC seems to have implemented it poorly by painting pink only in the front and rear end of the buses, while the sides are untouched. While MTC sources said they were unable to paint the entire bus pink due to financial constraints, managing director Ganesan denied it.
"The idea was to differentiate ordinary buses from express and deluxe buses (in which women have to pay to travel). But now, all category buses look the same from the sides. It has defeated the purpose," said N Aruna, a Madipakkam resident and frequent MTC user.