Many MTC stops wait for shelters

Sources said that there were over 1,800 bus stops coming under the Greater Chennai Corporation limit and the city needs around 1,200 more bus shelters. Since most bus stops in the city do not have shelters, passengers are forced to wait in the open braving the scorching sun, besides several kinds of pollution. 

“While a large percentage of travelling public depend on the MTC for daily commutation, the authorities should handle this issue on a priority basis. Adding fuel to the fire is the rising temperature which compounds the woes for the senior citizens, patients and women travelling with their children,” said M Anbarasan, a regular bus commuter, who was seen waiting at the Kutchery Road police station bus stop in Mylapore. 

“Most of the bus shelters are in a pathetic condition. Blame it on officials, as they don’t bother to undertake periodical maintenance of these facilities. As a result, many of them just stand as symbols and are totally unusable,” said T Karthik, a resident of Arumbakkam. “Even on arterial roads like Anna Salai and Poonamallee High Road, shelters are missing at bus stops. If this is the case with major stretches, you can’t expect better facilities on interior roads,” he says. S Mohan Ram, president, a citybased Consumer Protection Council told DT Next, “Officials have promised to boost the infrastructure several times in the past, but, there has been no action so far on the ground.” 

A corporation official, on condition of anonymity, said that they have received complaints in connection with absence of bus shelters and they were looking into them. “We will conduct a study on shortage of bus stops and then plan our work,” the official said.