CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin will inaugurate the AC bus shelter at the Retteri junction along the Perambur–Red Hills Road in Kolathur on February 23, the first among four such facilities developed at major bus hubs in the city.
The Kolathur shelter has been built with a pavement, benches and planted greenery forming an extended waiting and walking area outside the enclosed structure. Officials said this landscaped portion was not part of the original design.
“Initially the proposal was only for the bus shelter. Since additional land was available here, a small walking space with greenery was developed.
This is feasible only at this spot,” a Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) engineer associated with the project said, indicating similar layouts are unlikely at other locations due to space constraints.
The Kolathur facility is one among four AC bus shelters being developed by CMDA at major bus hubs with others being built in Royapuram, Wall Tax Road and Perambur. The project has been taken up at an estimated cost of around Rs 8 crore.
Each shelter provides an enclosed waiting hall with seating, toilets and drinking water. Seating capacity ranges from 78 seats at Kolathur, Royapuram and Wall Tax Road to 54 seats at Perambur.
The facilities are equipped with centralised AC, mobile charging ports and accessible toilets, with space for movement including for elderly passengers and persons with disabilities.
The shelters are located at busy bus stops that handle several hundred commuters daily.
Officials said that the remaining AC shelters at Royapuram, Wall Tax Road and Perambur were in advanced stages of completion and would be opened soon. “Separately, a non-AC bus shelter is also to be opened for public use by the Chief Minister at Retteri junction towards Padi,” said the official.