Kumari Palany & Co

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MTC buses in Chennai are packed as share autos raise their fares

Posted on: 21/Sep/2018 10:02:29 AM
It is known that the prices of fuels are on the rise and as a result the share auto fares have been increased. This has been creating many problems for the public who use share autos frequently. The latest news is the public have started using MTC or metropolitan transport corporation buses more to reach their places of destination as the share auto fares have been increased. Inspite of heavy rush in the buses, people find travelling by MTC buses better and cheap when compared to travelling by share autos in Chennai. Since the fourth week of August month, nearly 70,000 more passengers have used MTC buses and this was as per the data from MTC.

Few months back in the month of January, the state government increased the bus fares and this led to many problems for the people. People shifted to trains to reach their destination and as a result of that MTC lost 6 lakh to 7 lakh passengers. Many people preferred share autos etc. Public utility has recently written to the state transport corporation to take action against the drivers for the illegal operations in Chennai is known. A senior official belonging to MTC expressed his thoughts and spoke about how share autos etc were not allowed to pick up and drop the passengers at multiple points similar to MTC buses. MTC buses have permits to be stage carriers whereas the share autos etc have permits to run as contract carriages only.

As per the transport sector experts it is clear that share autos have become popular in Chennai due to two factors. One reason is passengers could hop in and out of these share autos at any point and the second reason is during the peak hours share autos ply much faster the MTC buses. The share autos have increased the fares depending on their demand. It is now brought out that some share autos operating along some key routes have hiked their rates from Rs 15 to Rs 20 and charge Rs 5 for every subsequent stop that is located 3 km or 4 km away.

During the peak hours only this revised fare structure is put into effect and during the non-peak hours the passengers prefer MTC buses or trains if the share auto drivers collect increased rates. This was confirmed by Mr. B. Anbalagan who is the representative of share auto drivers affiliated to the CITU.

It is now revealed that this hike in the share auto rates during the peak hours has led MTC to increase the bus services during the peak hours. A regular commuter spoke his heart out. He spoke about how he preferred MTC buses over share autos. He highlighted that travelling by share autos is not comfortable as it is overcrowded.