School and college students get free MTC bus pass
Posted on: 03/Jan/2019 1:03:15 PM
The Metropolitan Transport Corporation is in full swing distribution activity to give out free bus passes for students in schools and colleges in Chennai city and around.
There were recent reports that the academic year is almost half its way and the MTC is still awaited to start with buss pass distribution.
So far, about 1.5 lakh students have grabbed their bus passes, say MTC data. Soon, the remaining students that counts to about 1.6 lakh will also receive their bus passes, the officials promise.
To the complaints about the delay in bus pass distribution despite crossing half of the academic year, the MTC blamed delay in smart card printing rather than the paper-based passes that had been in conventional use.
Until the entire distribution gets over, the conductors are bound to permit students wearing uniforms, as per orders from M R Vijayabaskar, the Minister of Tamil Nadu Transport. Nevertheless, in a few incidents, the conductors forced the children to pay for the tickets being stringent and not allowing them to travel for free in spite of being in uniform attire.
Sources from a local activist in this regard states that there were 28 such complaints raised in Chennai city alone.
Starting from 4th week of December, the distribution works have started after tenders to print them were floated. To note, this free bus pass scheme was then launched by M Karunanidhi back in 1996-97.
Free ticket vs concession ticket
- Government school and college students – they can travel for free in MTC buses.
- Private school and college students – 50% concession towards travel charges in MTC buses.
A sum of Rs 766 crore is allotted for the fiscal year 2018-19 to benefit over 27 lakh students. There is also additional funding given for replacing the conventional paper-based bus passes with smart cards.
