Chennai: As many as 120 drivers and conductors from bus depots across the city have been transferred to the newly inaugurated Perumbakkam bus depot after it was made operational from November 15. The crew now rue that they have not signed the willingness form and are forced to travel at least 40 kilometres from their home to Perumbakkam in the outskirts of the city each day to begin work. As a result, many drivers did not turn up for duty, leading to the frequency of buses being affected.
“The bus depot has a total fleet of 58 buses that were pooled from Thiruvanmiyur, Adyar, T Nagar, Anna Nagar, Central depot, Mandaiveli and Kannagi Nagar. The drivers and conductors of the respective buses that have been shifted to Perumbakkam are transferred to this depot”, said an official from the Metropolitan Transportation Corporation (MTC).
With the houses of the crew being located nearer the depots they have been working from, they are now left with only two options – sleep at the Perumbakkam depot far from home or travel all the way back to their home in the city after a day-long work. One of the drivers at Anna Nagar depot said that almost everybody working at Anna Nagar either resides in Ambattur or Kolathur. “In the wee hours, we travel about 50 to 60 kilometres even before starting our work”.
Initially, MTC used to allot at least four buses from each depot to pick up and drop the crew after work. As the two-wheelers owned by the crew increased, the number of “lift” buses has come down to two. Since there is not much patronage towards Perumbakkam, the department has allotted no such buses yet to pick up or drop cre, said sources. This also increased the threat of accidents. In the past, MTC has witnessed many such cases where tired drivers on two-wheelers rammed into another vehicle due to fatigue and lost their lives.
MTC staff transferred from each depot
Anna Nagar
42
T Nagar
8
Central Depot
4
Mandaivel
13
Thiruvanmiyur and Adyar
53
