Public demand to replace luxury buses with express buses
Posted on: 23/Jun/2018 12:53:34 PM
Most of the luxury buses operated by the State Transport Corporation are running nearly empty. Hence, the public has been demanding that for the sake of better utility level that the luxury buses must be removed and replaced with express buses.
On behalf of the Chennai Metro City Transport Corporation, more than 3300 buses are operating on 806 routes. On an average, 45 Lakhs passengers travel daily on these buses. The state government of Tamil Nadu revised the bus fares upwards in January. As the increase in fare was up by 50%, the public was put up to great hardship.
Especially, in the ordinary buses operated by the Chennai Metro City Transport Corporation, the minimum fare was revised as Rs. 5 and the maximum, Rs. 24. In the express buses, the maximum fare was fixed at Rs. 36. In the luxury or deluxe buses, the minimum fare was fixed at Rs. 12 and the maximum fare, at Rs. 50.
Due to these higher fares, around 50% of the regular passengers switched over to other modes of transport. After the fares revision, the passenger level is far less in luxury buses as compared to the ordinary and express buses. The public, as well as the conductors, have complained that most of the luxury buses operate empty.
In this regard, some passengers observed that after the revision, most of the passengers have been travelling only in the ordinary and express buses. Only when there are unavoidable compulsions, the passengers travel by the luxury buses.
In the luxury buses, it costs as high as Rs. 50 to undertake a journey of relatively shorter distances. It is not worth spending that much. Nowadays, most of the luxury buses operate empty. So, if they are replaced by ordinary buses, more passengers will travel.
Some conductors of the buses observed that the passenger crowd in luxury buses was good before the fares revision, especially during peak office rush hours. At other times, at least 40 to 50 passengers will travel. However, after the fares revision, only 30 to 40 passengers travel in luxury buses even during the office peak hours. During the afternoons, hardly 10 passengers travel. Thus, only fuel is being wasted. So, in order for the better utility for both the public and the transport administration, it would be far more beneficial to increase the number of the ordinary and express buses.
