Book tickets in advance to avoid last-minute hassles, SETC urges passengers
Highlighting the challenges caused by large crowds arriving simultaneously, particularly during late-night hours, SETC managing director R Mohan stated that booking would help prevent unnecessary disputes, last-minute scrambles, and overcrowding at the Kilambakkam Bus Terminus.
Representative image.
CHENNAI: To ease congestion and ensure hassle-free travel, the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) has appealed to passengers undertaking long-distance journeys to book their tickets in advance so that it can operate additional buses if there is more demand.
Highlighting the challenges caused by large crowds arriving simultaneously, particularly during late-night hours, SETC managing director R Mohan stated that booking would help prevent unnecessary disputes, last-minute scrambles, and overcrowding at the Kilambakkam Bus Terminus. The Corporation assured that additional buses would be operated as per reservation demand.
Between June 4 and 6, SETC operated a significant number of special services from Kilambakkam to various destinations including Tiruvannamalai, Tiruchy, Kumbakonam, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Nagercoil, Kanniyakumari, Thoothukudi, Coimbatore, Salem, Erode, and Tiruppur.
On June 4 (Wednesday), 200 additional buses were operated alongside the daily fleet of 1,136, carrying 73,480 passengers. On June 5 (Thursday), 622 special buses were added, facilitating the travel of 96,690 passengers, while 798 extra buses were operated on June 6 (Friday), serving 1,06,205 passengers.
“In total, 2,76,735 passengers travelled over the three days, including 24,831 who made reservations. Despite the availability of 94,926 reserved seats from Chennai, only 26 per cent were booked, with bookings accounting for just 9 per cent of total seats on government buses,” he noted.
He reiterated his appeal to passengers to plan their travel, noting that doing so would help streamline operations and provide a more comfortable travel experience.
