Spl buses from 5 places to tackle holiday rush

During a meeting to review the preparedness during pooja and Diwali holidays, Transport Minister MR Vijayabhaskar said that buses to Vellore, Hosur and Kancheepuram would be operated from Poonamallee bus stand, while buses to Andhra Pradesh would be operated from Madhavaram new bus stand.

The four-day pooja holiday begins on October 5. “Buses to Tiruvannamalai and buses to Thanjavur and Kumbakonam will be operated from Tambaram railway station and Tambaram MEPZ respectively. Buses to Pondicherry, Cuddalore and Chidambaram will leave from KK Nagar bus stand,” he added.

Buses to other cities, including Madurai, Coimbatore, would leave from CMBT. “MTC buses will be operated interlinking all the temporary bus stands.” The government would operate as many as 10,940 services from Chennai for Diwali from October 24 to October 26.

The minister also assured that similar arrangements would be made in Tiruppur and Coimbatore. “Ticket booking for special buses for Diwali will start on October 23 and booking counters will be set up at Koyambedu, Madhavaram, Tambaram and Poonamallee,” he said.

While responding to questions, Vijayabhaskar said that the government has taken measures to reduce the penalty for traffic violations. “There are some legal issues and the Chief Minister is discussing the possibility of reducing the penalties,” he added.