Repairs force 20 mini-buses to lie idle at depots

A source attached to the MTC said, “At least four small buses are lying idle at Saidapet, Chrompet and Tondiarpet depots for several months. We are waiting to receive spare parts for the vehicles so that it can be repaired.”

Although small buses are equipped with advanced technology, the MTC utilises its own manpower in the maintenance team to undertake the repair work. “Our mechanics can handle the repairs developed in small buses,” said an official attached to MTC.

This development comes at a time when the commuters raised complaints about the frequency of small buses. “In many areas, small buses are either withdrawn from their usual routes or the number of trips they run are reduced. Both the moves have affected the commuters.

This issue was raised a number of times with the concerned authorities in the past,” said V Subramani, the project director of Traffic and Transportation Forum.

The regular commuters claimed that there was a dip in services of S85 (Alandur and Velachery) and S11 (Alandur Metro to Moovarasampet). Further, the services S12, S13 and S93 were stopped altogether in the recent past.

In the beginning, MTC operated 100 small buses at various pockets of the city, including Chrompet, Pallavaram, Tiruneermalai, MKB Nagar, Mogappair, and Anna Nagar. Owing to good patronage, the corporation had raised the number of vehicles to 200. Over a period, the MTC reduced the number of small buses after registering a dip in patronage.

However, MTC Managing Director Anbu Abraham, maintained that these buses are kept as spares, which would be utilised as replacements for malfunctioning vehicles. “The Corporation has nearly 20 small buses in reserve. Further, all the 185 buses are being operated across the city.”