MTC launches 25 special student buses to curb footboarding

CHENNAI: To curb the practice of students travelling on the footboard of buses during peak hours, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) on Monday launched 25 buses dedicated for school students. Students will be allowed to travel free of cost on these special services. The buses will leave their respective depots between 6.50 am and 8.05 am, stopping at designated points before reaching schools. In the afternoon, return trips will operate between 1.50 pm and 4.10 pm. Each bus will make 50 trips daily between schools and terminals, halting at fixed stops. To mark the launch, Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin flagged off a students special bus from the Lady Willingdon Higher Secondary School, Triplicane, and also inaugurated the distribution of free bus passes for students at the same venue. A total of 35.12 lakh students across Tamil Nadu will receive free bus passes for travel in government buses, of which 4.1 lakh will be issued by the MTC in Chennai and its outskirts, said an official note. These buses will operate 50 trips (to and fro) each day and are expected to benefit around 2,500 to 3,000 students, MTC Managing Director T Prabhushankar told TNIE. He stressed that the service is strictly for schoolchildren, and adults will not be permitted. Special buses for college students will be introduced in the second phase, and they will not be allowed to use buses earmarked for school students, he added. MTC officials said the routes were identified based on inputs from the school education department, Chennai Corporation and traffic police. Special teams studied student demand on highly congested routes. Based on their field reports, the routes were finalised, said an official. The 25 bus routes include: Kannagi Nagar - St. Francis Xavier Middle School (5C ET); MKB Nagar - Murthu Zaviya Oriental HSS - Chepauk (2A); Iyyappanthangal - Government Girls HSS, Ashok Nagar (11M); Iyyappanthangal - Army Public School, Nandambakkam (49); Semmanchery - YMCA School, Thoraipakkam (102C/6D); Vinayagapuram - Govt. Girls HSS, Perambur (142), and others. The MTCs fleet strength stands at 3,200, including spare buses. Doors have been installed in most of them, and only these buses will be deployed as students special services to ensure that students do not travel on the footboards, the official added. DyCM inaugurates new Rs 30-cr subway at Bojarajan Nagar Chennai: Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Monday inaugurated the newly-constructed subway at Bojarajan Nagar near Royapuram, built at a cost of Rs 30.13 crore through the Chennai Corporations capital fund. Bojarajan Nagar, surrounded by railway tracks on three sides, had long posed connectivity challenges for residents who depended on level crossings. The new subway, a long-pending demand of locals, is expected to make commuting easier for nearly one lakh residents of Bojarajan Nagar, Srinivasa Nagar and Mint Modern City. The 207-metre-long, 6-metre-wide subway is equipped with a dedicated drainage system, an 85 HP motor pump and a generator to prevent flooding during monsoon. This apart, civic amenities worth Rs 1.41 crore were also inaugurated.