Passengers ‘kept at bay’ as MTC buses halt on road

The city has around 250 bus bays and 1,060 bus shelters. However, most these bus bays are occupied by auto rickshaws, share autos and other vehicles. Though MTC officials claimed that they had posted staff to monitor such issues, no MTC employees were at the bays for the most part of the day. 

An MTC driver, on condition of anonymity, said, “When buses queue up in the bays, we would bypass the bays to save time.” Asked about the plight of waiting passengers in the bays, the driver casually said, “Such incidents happen mostly during peak hours and sensing this, the passengers keep track of the number and destination of all approaching buses and accordingly rush to the bay or the main road to board them.”

Another issue that commuters complained about was that most of the buses did not stop at the designated stops or shelters.

While MTC drivers and conductors claim that they do so only when the passengers forget their destinations, passengers claim that it is a deliberate ploy. “I have missed MTC buses many times because the drivers either stop the vehicles ahead of the stops or overshoot them,” said T Karthik, employee of a private firm and a regular commuter. He added that senior citizens are affected by this practice and demanded the MTC officials to post staff in each bay to monitor such issues. 

When DTNext contacted, a senior MTC official said, “We have already posted some staff to prevent such incidents. We will also instruct the MTC crew, especially drivers and conductors, to avoid such practices as more number of commuters prefer MTC buses.” 

On average, MTC receives around 30 to 50 such complaints a month. “Punishment is in accordance with the gravity of the complaints. For such complaints, drivers will be suspended for two or three days if checking officers find out the violations or commuters complain through MTC website with details,” the official added.