20,000 buses to zoom across TN

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Four hundred more gleaming new, environment-friendly buses will be added to the fleet of the state transport corporation (STC) in a few weeks.

Also, new buses will run on 189 new routes. With this, the combined fleet strength of the eight transport corporations is cruising ahead to reach the 20,000 mark, fulfilling the promise made by the government in the Assembly. The new buses will have ‘adjustable driver seats’ to provide comfort to the drivers according to their height and preference, as in cars.

“STC is fast approaching the target of taking the state-owned buses fleet strength to the magical 20,000 mark. We are all set to receive 421 new buses in the first half of the next month as part of augmentation of 3,000 new buses that was announced in the Assembly in 2011. We are also contemplating to introduce 189 new routes,” highly-placed sources told Deccan Chronicle.

The total share of state express transport corporation’s 473 buses in the intended 3,000 buses would be over with the arrival of vehicles in this batch, wherein the corporation would get 62 buses. Chennai’s MTC will get 31 new buses and the remaining would be allocated to the other six corporations. Presently, the STC fleet strength is 19,811 only 189 short of the target.

As regards Chennai, it has been planned to reach a total of 3,500 buses, where presently 3,222 buses are operated by MTC. The AIADMK government has purchased 1,167 new buses, in three batches (196, 464, 507) in the one-year period, while only 500 buses were added by the previous regime.

The state has also directed the manufacturers to fit adjustable seat for drivers. “We have asked them to replace all the seats acceding to the demand of our drivers,” an official said. The 2012 budget had announced that 3,000 more buses would be purchased.