3 hours to reach Kilambakkam from Koyambedu- Chaos in Kilambakkam bus terminus due to shortage of buses!!
Kilambakkam located in south Chennai has become the centre of attraction for many passengers now. It is worthy to note that at the Kilambakkam bus terminus or Kalaignar Centenary Bus Terminus/ KCBT there has been chaos or pandemonium during this long weekend. The main reason for this is due to the shortage of both local and long distance buses at the bus terminus.
Point is that passengers who travelled out of Chennai to their hometowns jostled for seats whenever a bus entered the Kilambakkam bus terminus. This has been since Thursday afternoon itself. Both youngsters and elderly persons have been screaming for help in this mayhem.
Information gathered is that the 1160 special buses have been operated on mofussil routes on Thursday. This included about 400 hired private buses or payanam buses, about 100 MTC buses, and 50 SETC buses. In addition to these, there were regular 2092 bus services also. This was according to the Transport Commissionerate. However, as per the passengers the bus services were not sufficient
Slow moving traffic coupled with lack of MTC buses to Kilambakkam has made it difficult for the public to reach Kilambakkam bus terminus also.
It is really shocking to note that it took nearly 3 hours to reach Kilambakkam from Koyambedu in Chennai. This was according to a passenger. He spoke about how only reserved buses were stationed in the KCBT. Many passengers at Koyambedu wanted the MTC to increase the buses atleast on the long weekends until KCBT in Kilambakkam gets metro train connectivity.
Mr. Paul Rajkuamr who is Chengalper district revenue officer overseeing KCBT operations mentioned that since Thursday afternoon passengers started thronging the KCBT. He added that many first shift employees began leaving Chennai for their native places. To manage the afternoon rush, the buses reserved for the evening were operated. As and when the crowd demanded buses on a particular roué, additional buses were operated. About 2.5lakh passengers boarded buses from Lilambakkam till 4am on Friday to their native places. It must be noted that buses to places like Kaumbakonam, Trichy, Tiruvannamalaia and Villupuram were in huge demand.
In this scenario, omni bus operators increased the ticket rates three times. Normally from Chennai to Erode, an online ticket would cost Rs 800 but it cost Rs 2800. It is learnt that the Omni bus associations claimed to have capped the ticket price at Rs 2250.
