MTC commuters seek resumption of open house meets

The open house meet was last organised in 2010. The members who attended the meeting recollected that various issues, ranging from rationalisation of routes, less frequency, change problems, and extension of services, were raised.

These meetings were conducted periodically at the bus depots across the city and Pallavan House on Anna Salai. Commuters utilised the open house meets as a platform to raise their grievances with the authorities concerned.

Such a facility has become important after complaints about poor condition of buses have gone up in the recent past. On Monday, a commuter on route number 44 had his trouser torn due to a poorly welded metal piece. “It is always the drivers and conductors who have to face the wrath of the irate commuters,” said MV Ramamurthy of the Netaji Transport Workers Union.

The Corporation, which runs mainly on ageing vehicles, has so far received only one new bus. 

“It shows the lethargic attitude of the authorities towards holding the open house periodically. Without this, the link between the transport utility and the public remains missing,” said Traffic and Transportation Forum Project Director V Subramani. The practice was discontinued due to overburden of workload of the officials, said an official. “We may consider organising Open house again in near future,” the official added.