Urban News

The Hindu  13.10.2010

Government Orders issued on MTC bifurcation

Ajai Sreevatsan

CHENNAI: The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) is being bifurcated into MTC (North) and MTC (South) and the services under the new arrangements will begin from next week.

While an announcement in this regard was made by Transport Minister K. N. Nehru in the Assembly on December 31, 2009, a Government Order on splitting the MTC and another on the names of the new entities were issued on Monday and Tuesday respectively. Speaking to The Hindu on Tuesday, Mr. Nehru said the split would ease the administrative burden.

“The operational limit of the MTC was extended to 50 km a couple of years ago. Many parts of Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts are also being covered by the MTC. Monitoring and keeping track of operational efficiency have become difficult,” he said.

Half of the 3,267 buses in the MTC's fleet would be transferred to the newly created MTC (North), to be headquartered at Anna Nagar depot. All student concession passes would be handled by MTC (South), which would function at the existing Pallavan House. Season tickets and travel-as-you-please tickets could be bought at any bus depot. The dividing line between the two transport districts would be Poonamallee High Road.

The bifurcation strategy, aimed at improving operational efficiency, had already been tried once and failed.

The Pallavan Transport Corporation, MTC's earlier name, was bifurcated in January 1994 to create Dr. Ambedkar Transport Corporation, with a view to improving administration. What ensued was turf war between the two transport districts, said MTC officials, who were part of the set-up then.

Revenue sharing became a problem and unhealthy competition between the two divisions resulted in revenue generating routes being served by too many buses while other routes were ignored. The merger of the two districts and creation of the MTC came into effect on January 10, 2001.

To avoid the same problems, measures such as permanent ‘Route Sharing Committee' to allocate inter-district routes, sharing revenue from season tickets on a pro-rata (based on fleet proportion) basis and both Corporations plying equal number of kilometres across districts have been suggested in the G.O.

Apart from Chennai, the State Transport Corporation (Madurai), which currently serves seven districts, had also been split.

Henceforth, State Transport Corporation (Madurai) would serve Madurai, Virudhunagar, Dindugul and Theni. The State Transport Corporation (Tirunelveli) would operate in Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari and Tuticorin.

The Deccan chronicle  04.10.2010

Oct. 3: People living in the suburbs of industries-dominated north Chennai pin their hopes on public transport, specifically buses. However, service provider Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) doesn’t have much to offer them. Abysmally low frequency of MTC buses in this belt has forced people to depend on share autorickshaws and their two-wheelers.

Though MTC has been steadily increasing its fleet strength, not too much of it has rolled down north Chennai’s way.
Office-goers feel the pinch the most. Locals say commuting in autos and two-wheelers is risky. While most of the autos are invariably overcrowded, not many relish riding two-wheelers on roads dominated by lorries.

Thousands of office-goers from the low-income group live in these suburbs and using alternative modes of transport is an expensive proposition. Most cannot afford the luxury of taking autorickshaws to or from office every day.

M. Balaji, a resident of Manali New Town, says though MTC operates 44B (high court), 28A (Egmore) and 121D (CMBT) bus services from here, the frequency is very low. “Due to this, we are forced to depend on share autorickshaws or private vans,” he adds.

K. Purushotaman of Vichoor says that their area does not have any dependable bus service other than 56M (to Vallalar Nagar). “Thousands of people are working in the industrial units located in the Vichoor SIDCO industrial estate but there is only one bus, 56M, between Vichoor and Vallalar Nagar,” he says, and adds that MTC should introduce a new bus service connecting Perambur.

Though the municipality of Thiruvottiyur has buses from Tiruvanmiyur and Ambattur estate, it still lacks vehicles for internal transport. “People living in the interior areas of Thiruvottiyur like Balakrishna Nagar and Charles Nagar have to depend on autorickshaws to commute,” Mr S. Jaffar, who works in the housekeeping department of an IT firm on the OMR, says.

North Chennai People’s Rights Federation media coordinator T. Raj Kumar says that since the suburban areas of north Chennai have very limited rail connectivity, people living in these areas are entirely dependent upon MTC buses. “MTC should operate more buses in the suburban areas even if there is lack of adequate patronage,” he says.

A senior MTC official admits that people from several areas are urging the corporation to operate more services. “We will consider all such demands at the time of introduction of mini-buses,” the official adds.