CHENNAI: The
State Express Transport Corporation
(
SETC
) has added more services along
Chennai-Trichy
and Salem routes as demand for AC buses have spiked.
According to official data, SETC last Sunday operated more than 310 buses compared to 210 services on weekdays. The corporation managed to transport more than 15,000 passengers on Sunday despite a 35% shortage of bus crew.
Given that most trains are running full due to summer holidays, passengers get to know about their tatkal ticket status very late. This has led to an increase in the frequency of last-minute bookings for SETC buses to 10,000 bookings per day. On working days, it used to be 5,000 booking per day, said a senior SETC official.
The demand for AC buses is such that
MTC
’s AC buses in the city can be seen running full despite a higher fare (15 to 80) compared to deluxe services (11 to 49).
For a city with 90 lakh population and 30 lakh regular bus commuters, there are only 48 AC buses with MTC half of what it had four years ago. Transportation activist
R Rengachari
said, "It is disappointing to see not enough AC buses despite a huge demand. With government tenders pending, the new (BS-VI compliant and battery-operated/electric) buses are not likely to hit the roads anytime soon".
Even in the existing buses, the air-conditioning systems turn faulty frequently. "The gas levels in these systems are not checked regularly and dust in the air-conditioner’s vents are not cleaned properly," said TR Pandian, a regular SETC bus user.
The SETC official said that they haven't operated most AC buses for more than two years and now they have deployed a special team (with representatives from LG air conditioner systems) at Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT), Koyambedu to address all such complaints.