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In Chennai, MTC bus crew facing tough situation now after the TN govt banning standing travel in buses
Posted on: 13/Apr/2021 9:16:15 AM
The TN government has banned standing travel on the MTC buses in Chennai. The MTC crew members have been finding it difficult to enforce social distancing norms inside the buses now.
Monday was the first working day since the new rule of no standing inside the buses came into force (from Saturday) in Chennai. The staff had a very tough time with the passengers.
According to a bus driver at Avadi, on Saturday and on Sunday there was not any issue but on Monday no passenger adhered to the laws or listened to the crew members when they asked the passengers to get down as the seats were occupied. He explained that no passengers were allowed inside the bus without wearing facemasks. Buses that left the Avadi terminus were full of passengers and there were also many standing passengers too. This was inspite of the additional bus services that are being operated now for the passenger sake for social distancing.
A senior officer belonging to MTC expressed his thoughts. He spoke about how the MTC bus crew have been given strict instructions to enforce the GO. He added that the crew members were helpless because the passengers were adamant and did not obey the rules inside the buses. It is learnt that additional 400 MTC buses were operated in the peak hours yesterday.
It is worthy to note that the present MTC bus fleet strength of 3400 buses would not be sufficient to enforce Covid-19 norms because in the peak hours almost 100 persons travel in the buses. Truth is that in normal circumstances a MTC bus would carry 44 seated and 25 standing passengers. It is now revealed that 5000 MTC buses would be needed for enforcing new rule of the government. This would ensure that only seated passengers travel in the buses in Chennai.
