MTC buses packed as auto fares rise
High Fuel Prices Begin To Pinch
Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com
Chennai:21.09.2018
More people have started using buses run by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) as share autos have begun increasing fares to pay skyrocketing fuel bills.
According to MTC data, nearly 70,000 more passengers have used its buses since the fourth week of August, a welcome if marginal rise. Since January when the state government raised bus fares, the MTC had lost six lakh to seven lakh people to other modes of transport, particularly local trains. Share autos too had poached significant numbers of MTC commuters, prompting the public utility recently to write to the state transport department to take action against the drivers, accusing them of 'illegal operations' within the city.
"These vehicles (with permits to run as contract carriages) are not allowed to pick up and drop passengers at multiple points as do government buses (which have permits to be stage carriers)," pointed out a senior MTC official.
Transport sector experts say though some action was taken against them, share autos continued to thrive for two reasons. One, passengers could hop in and out at any desired point and, two, share autos ply much faster than MTC buses during peak hours. Given the passenger demand, share auto drivers operating along some of the key routes in the city could afford to increase the minimum fare from ₹15 to ₹20 and charge ₹5 more for every subsequent stop three or four km away.
B Anbalagan, a representative of share auto drivers affiliated to the CITU, said, "The revised fare structure is put into effect only during the peak hours since passengers tend to use MTC buses or local trains if the share auto drivers collect the increased fare during non-peak hours."
However, their fare slab revision turned out to be a blessing in disguise for MTC, which has of late increased the number of services operated during peak hours. B Shankaran, a commuter who prefers MTC buses to share autos, said, "Despite paying more, it is difficult to sit comfortably in an overcrowded share auto."
High Fuel Prices Begin To Pinch
Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com
Chennai:21.09.2018
More people have started using buses run by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) as share autos have begun increasing fares to pay skyrocketing fuel bills.
According to MTC data, nearly 70,000 more passengers have used its buses since the fourth week of August, a welcome if marginal rise. Since January when the state government raised bus fares, the MTC had lost six lakh to seven lakh people to other modes of transport, particularly local trains. Share autos too had poached significant numbers of MTC commuters, prompting the public utility recently to write to the state transport department to take action against the drivers, accusing them of 'illegal operations' within the city.
"These vehicles (with permits to run as contract carriages) are not allowed to pick up and drop passengers at multiple points as do government buses (which have permits to be stage carriers)," pointed out a senior MTC official.
Transport sector experts say though some action was taken against them, share autos continued to thrive for two reasons. One, passengers could hop in and out at any desired point and, two, share autos ply much faster than MTC buses during peak hours. Given the passenger demand, share auto drivers operating along some of the key routes in the city could afford to increase the minimum fare from ₹15 to ₹20 and charge ₹5 more for every subsequent stop three or four km away.
B Anbalagan, a representative of share auto drivers affiliated to the CITU, said, "The revised fare structure is put into effect only during the peak hours since passengers tend to use MTC buses or local trains if the share auto drivers collect the increased fare during non-peak hours."
However, their fare slab revision turned out to be a blessing in disguise for MTC, which has of late increased the number of services operated during peak hours. B Shankaran, a commuter who prefers MTC buses to share autos, said, "Despite paying more, it is difficult to sit comfortably in an overcrowded share auto."
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