Chennai: MTC buses from Airport to ply on new route

CHENNAI: The air-conditioned mini-bus services being operated between the Chennai Airport and the city for the past few months will henceforth ply on a new route. The reason - poor patronage. The sad state of affairs has resulted in the buses running virtually empty. Come March, the four skyblue painted buses of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) will be operated on only one stretch, which is towards Tiruvanmiyur in south Chennai via Kathipara Junction, Guindy, Adyar and Besant Nagar from the Airport instead of the two different routes.

Presently, two buses ply between the Airport and Egmore Railway Station through Kathipara Junction, Guindy, Anna University, Adyar, Alwarpet Flyover and Cathedral Road, while the remaining two services head from Airport to Anna Nagar West via Kathipara Junction, Ashok Pillar and CMBT.

A decision in this regard was taken after a meeting was held between the officials of the MTC and the Airport Authorities of India in Chennai, recently. "The new route is likely to be used from the first week of March," a senior official with MTC told City Express. "This will also help bridge the huge gap in the frequency between any two services, which is one of the major reasons identified as the cause for poor patronage," the official added.

The luxury air-conditioned coaches are being operated at a frequency of once every hour. However, the prevailing traffic congestion across the city due to the ongoing construction work for the Metro Rail project keeps extending the journey time, resulting in delayed departures. "If all the four coaches are operated at a single stretch, it will reduce the frequency by 30 minutes and will help us stick to schedules," official sources added.

Moreover, the mini bus services have been incurring heavy losses, which nullify the profit earned by other buses. Despite the daily revenue for these vehicles being  fixed at anywhere between Rs 8,000 and Rs 9,000 everyday, the luxury vehicles have been able to achieve only half the target -- around Rs 4000, reports suggest.