It has become so common to see people and motorists etc jostling for space in OMR or Old Mahabalipuram Road in Chennai. The ongoing metro rail work has narrowed OMR now into 2 lanes and due to this OMR is in complete mess now. It is a known fact that in OMR there are many educational institutions, IT companies, gated communities etc present. Point is that a functional metro rail would decongest the IT corridor on the OMR but it would take 4 years. Waiting for the MTC buses here has become a huge issue for many now. Many wait for even 30minutes for the buses to arrive.
It is now said that BRTS or bus road transport system would be a superb solution for decongesting the road and for improving public transport. It must be noted that under BRTS, mini buses could run shuttle services just for OMR. This could be done by making use of broad service lanes along both sides of OMR. Truth is that the carriage could be expanded into 3 lanes and there would be space for bus only lanes.
It was mentioned by Suma Narayan, a transport researcher that MRTS or Chennai monorail could partially fund BRTS along with the MTC. The sensational piece of information is that with BRTS in place three times the population would be able to travel in an hour across OMR. The residents might opt for buses and leave their own vehicles at their homes. Point is that It would be a paradigm shift on the OMR.