CHENNAI: Even two months after relocating the Broadway bus terminus to Royapuram and Island Grounds, the general public, commuters, drivers, and conductors at both termini have raised concerns over the shut doors of canteens, dining rooms, and relaxing rooms for drivers and conductors and lactation rooms.
Passengers and staff have no other option to buy food or water bottles at the termini during peak meal times. Also, the water quality at the smart dispensaries is poor, and a good number of people refuse to consume it.
There are eight shops at Royapuram and 16 at Island Ground. Both termini have a functional Aavin kiosk, where many buy biscuits, badam milk and butter milk at the shop. The police booths too remain unoccupied.
Spread across 10,713 sq metres (280 metres long and 38 metres wide), Island Grounds terminus has facilities that include 60 benches. The Royapuram terminus, spread across 14,000 sq m along Ibrahimji Road, has 55 bus bays and 65 RCC seating arrangements.
K Selvi, a regular commuter who waits for the 102 K bus at Island Grounds terminus, said, “In the summer, we feel more thirsty and need packed water bottles. At the terminus, we don’t have a tea shop, tiffin centres or even a snacks bar for commuters.”
Additionally, many lamented over the drinking water from smart dispensers tasting like bore water.
Bus drivers are not far behind with their tale of woe. “Our first trip starts by 5 am. There are no tea shops for us; just an Aavin kiosk that opens after 8 am,” said a bus conductor at Island Ground.
Another MTC driver piped in: “Earlier, I used to eat at the small tiffin centres at the Broadway bus terminus. Now, I’ve to get out of the terminus and eat at the roadside eateries.”
The closure of the dining room has forced conductors to eat at their seats on the bus. “Often, people ask us about the bus routes, and when we start the bus. In the limited lunch break, we don’t have privacy. As a group, we sit on the pavements and eat lunch,” said a conductor at the Royapuram terminus.
A senior Corporation official told DT Next that the shop allotment proceedings were being done at the zonal level, to which, a zonal-level official said, “I’ve recently taken charge, and will inspect and check the allotment.”
The Chennai Metro Asset Management Limited (CMAML) is developing an integrated Rs 822.70 crore Multimodal Facility Complex (MMFC) at the Broadway bus terminus. This will redevelop the Kuralagam building, featuring a nine-storey transportation hub, a 10-storey commercial building, and 73 bus bays. Estimated time of completion is 2027 for the project, which is significantly expected to transform the city’s transport infrastructure.