From white to green; unfair hike in fare

Commuters complained that no additional facilities have been made on the buses that have been upgraded only in the name. “Only the fare has changed, nothing else,” rued a commuter. MTC sources said that around 3,000 buses were being operated in Chennai city and suburban areas of which only 20 per cent is ordinary service. Some years back, over 50 per cent of the MTC fleet were ordinary services, but considering the revenue, the officials started cutting the number of ordinary buses, inconveniencing the common man. 

“We can see only express buses on the roads, besides deluxe and semi-low floor vehicles of the MTC. While these buses have additional facilities, the fare is also high. I used to board an ordinary bus only, as the fare is affordable for me. But things have changed now and it has become a rarity these days to spot an ordinary bus,” said S Karthik, a regular commuter from Chintadripet, who takes the MTC route number 28 to Thiruvottiyur. 

“In the last five years, during which I have been regularly travelling on this route, the number of ordinary buses have come down and now only the express buses are occupying the roads,” he said and added that many ordinary buses have been converted into express services. When asked, an MTC conductor said, “We do what our higher officials instruct us to do.” 

They reasoned that the MTC has been running in loss and that they were directed to use the green boards in ordinary buses to collect express fare. K Veeraragavan, secretary, MTC Retired Employees Association, said “It is a fact that the officials are largely operating express services with an eye on revenue. Several years ago, ordinary buses outnumbered other classified buses. But those have been gradually reduced. Except fare, there is no other difference between the vehicles,” he added.  

However, a senior MTC official denied any such conversion. “We are operating buses as per schedule and not just looking only at revenue,” he said and added that if they receive any such complaint from the passengers, they would look into the matter.