TN to operate over 3,000 spl buses for whole of poll week

TN to operate over 3,000 spl buses for whole of poll week

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:01.04.2021

The Tamil Nadu transport department seems to have learned its lesson the hard way.

During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, state-run transport corporations did not operate enough additional buses ahead of the voting day. As a result, thousands of passengers climbed on top of buses and hung on to the rear grilles to reach their native places to vote. This attracted sharp criticism and put the ruling AIADMK in an awkward situation eight to 12 hours before the votes were cast.

To avoid such embarrassment this time, the transport department announced in advance that it will be running 3,090 special buses from Chennai in addition to 2,300 regular services during poll week. Election special buses will depart only from Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) at Koyambedu between Thursday and Saturday.

For the next two days, these buses will pick up or drop passengers at major transit points in the city — Madhavaram, K K Nagar, Poonamallee and Tambaram.

Buses to Andhra Pradesh will leave from Madhavaram. Poonamallee bus stand will be the origin for buses bound for Hosur, Arcot, Arani, Cheyyar, Vellore and Kancheepuram. Buses to Cuddalore and Chidambaram will depart from K K Nagar. Tambaram will be the pick-up point for passengers heading to Thanjavur, Kumbakonam Tiruvannamalai and Neyveli.

Other buses to Nagapattinam, Madurai, Trichy, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Kanyakumari, Erode, Tiruppur, Coimbatore and Salem will leave from CMBT.

A total of 2,264 special buses would be operated from Coimbatore, Salem, Tirupur and Bengaluru to make sure that there is no congestion, said an official release on Wednesday. Similarly, the department will run 2,115 special buses to Chennai to facilitate the return journey. In other parts of the state, 1,738 moffusil buses will be operated.