For MTC crew, good patronage makes social distancing a challenge

Despite the low patronage, sources in the MTC said it has increased services in certain routes considering the demand during the morning and evening peak hours. On Tuesday, the MTC operated about 2,300 buses as against its fleet strength of 3,679 buses, which went up to about 2,500 vehicles on Wednesday, added sources.

An MTC official said the buses received decent patronage only during the peak hours. “During the rest of the day, buses were plying with very few passengers in most of the routes. It was better in certain routes, particularly in the city outskirts like Tambaram, Poonamallee, Kundrathur, Moolakadai and Red Hills,” the official said.

A conductor on Red Hills-Koyambedu route said the biggest challenge he was stopping passengers from boarding the bus after the vehicle already had maximum permitted people. This often caused violation of social distancing norms.

“Due to reduced number of services along with the cap of 24 passengers per bus, public refused to heed to my request to follow social distancing norms. Some of them even started arguing,” he complained. However, he added, all the passengers wore masks.

Resuming service has been a boon for many who have been forced to shell out money on fuel. S Gokul, a call centre employee travelling to Adyar, recalled how he was forced to ride his two-wheeler in the absence office pick-up and bus service. “I have been spending a lot of money on the petrol. Considering the salary cut, it is economical for me to travel on bus than bike,” he said.

Meanwhile, the MTC started issuing monthly bus passes at its bus termini from Wednesday. “Normally we start issuing bus passes from 7th of every month. But to avoid overcrowding, we started early this month. In March, we had issued 1.41 lakh passes, each costing Rs 1,000,” the official said.