SETC would operate all buses to Southern districts from Kilambakkam: SS Sivasankar

CHENNAI: Transport Minister SS Sivasankar on Saturday announced that State Express Transport Corporation would operate all its buses from the new Kalaignar Centenary Bus Terminus (KCBT) at Kilambakkam while all other six transport corporation buses will shift their operation from Komabedu to the new terminus after Pongal.

"Buses to Bengaluru and those that ply via the ECR will be operated from CMBT in Koyambedu, " the minister said after the inauguration of the new terminus at Kilambakkam by the chief minister.

To ensure seamless movement of to and fro passengers from Kilambakkam terminus, he said that MTC would start operating its services from all parts of the city from December 31. He said that MTC buses would be operated from the new terminus to important areas such as Koyambedu, Tambaram, and Adyar in short intervals while buses would be operated to Broadway, Thiruvanmiyur, Poonamallee, Iyyapanthangal and T Nagar at regular intervals.

Buses will also be operated to Chengalpattu, Guduvanchery and Mamallapuram from KCBT. "The buses would be operated in addition to the existing services, " he said. From the CMBT at Koyambedu, the MTC would operate 270 services to Kilambakkam terminus daily at a frequency of five minutes per bus.

"From Kilambakkam terminus, the MTC will operate a bus every two minutes towards Tambaram and every three minutes to Guindy. Already, the MTC is operating 2,386 services along the Kilambakkam route and it plans to additionally operate 1,691 services. So a total of 4,077 services would be operated in the Kilambakkam route, " he said.

Apart from SETC, other Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporations Viillupuram, Kumbakkonam, Salem, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tirunelveli would operate their buses from Koyambedu and would stop at Kilambakkam until Pongal, he said.

After the Pongal, all the buses would operate from Kilambakkam.

Private bus operators (omnibuses) have requested to operate from Koyambedu since they have already taken bookings for Pongal, said the minister.

On the operation of the special buses for Pongal, he said that special buses would be operated from five special terminus. "We will make changes in the bus operation if needed after seeing the public response for the new terminus in the next 10 days, " he said.

To a query on hindrance to traffic on GST road due to entry and exit of the buses, he said that the bus operation has begun only after a trial operation conducted by the CMDA, police and transport corporation.