Chennai: Services of over 200 buses suspended

CHENNAI: As services of nearly 200 buses from numerous bus depots were suspended by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) as they had surpassed the permissible amount of kilometers,  drivers and conductors allege that they are not assigned duty daily and are seldom allowed to ply on alternative routes.

Usually for every bus, four workers are assigned – two drivers and two conductors for dual shifts. On an average at least 400 workers are assigned duty, per day and there would be 20 to 30 spare workers, according to depot policy.

 According to MTC insiders, about 30 damaged buses were brought to the Chrompet depot on July 21 and within a week, more than 200 buses followed.

At least five buses are scrapped from each depot and it is alleged that more number of buses was brought down from depots that operate more than 200 buses. Due to this, even workers of scrapped buses are added to the list of spare workers who are assigned duty only in the case of absence of existing worker.

“We now work for not more than four days a week and this also affects our alternative allowance for each trip. The department is not clear about when they would introduce new buses due to losses,” said one of the drivers at KK Nagar depot adding that the situation is worse on Saturdays and Sundays as the buses are cut down by 50 per cent.

The reduced frequency of buses also caused hardship to commuters. One of them, Krishnakanth, said buses never come on time as numerous buses are brought down and the time chart is not revised according to that.

Also, commuters are forced to opt for alternative modes of transport.

 Officials of MTC refused to comment about the introduction of new buses. Repeated attempts to get reactions from the department failed.