The Times of India  19.08.2010

CHENNAI: As many as 3,000 new buses will soon be on the roads in Tamil Nadu as the state transport department is set to finalise the tenders called for procuring chasis for the new vehicles in a couple of weeks.

According to official sources, Tata and Ashok Leyland have applied for the tender and once it is finalised, the company selected for the job will be asked to deliver about 500 chasis a month.

"One thousand buses will be allotted to Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation's (TNSTC) Madurai division, 150 vehicles to Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) in Chennai and 100 buses to State Express Transport Corporation (SETC). The remaining vehicles will be allotted to other transport corporations in the state depending upon the number of buses they have,'' sources in the department told The Times of India.

"Bodies for the vehicles will be built by the respective transport corporations. Our idea is to have all the 3,000 vehicles on road in the next six months," the sources added. The new buses, however, will not be airconditioned.

MTC will get only 150 buses since it got about 2,000 new buses in the past two to three years and has almost replaced its ageing fleet.

As of now, SETC, MTC and TNSTC operate a total of about 20,000 buses in Tamil Nadu.

However, the government is yet to issue orders for the operation of mini buses in Chennai, though it had made an announcement in April this year that mini buses would plying on city roads within three months. MTC will operate these buses in the city and suburban areas as feeder services to the nearest bus terminus and railway stations.

"Once the government issues the order, Institute of Road Transport in Taramani will commence the process of procuring mini buses for Chennai," a senior transport official said.

MTC was running mini buses about 15 years ago on several routes, including in Ramavaram, Kodambakkam and Aminjikarai. Presently, there are about 4,000 mini buses on the road in different parts of the state.