In an interesting development, an open-deck doubled-decker bus manufactured by Ashok Leyland’s Switch Mobility was spotted near Marina Beach in Chennai.
The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) had announced that it was considering bringing back double-deckers on the city’s roads in July 2023. Double Deckers were originally introduced in the 1970s and ran on the High Court (Broadway) to Tambaram Route (most likely 21G) but wound up soon due to poor patronage. The Institute of Road Transport, Chennai (IRT) which is responsible for procuring buses in the state has begun the process of looking at different options.
It was reported that these buses would likely run on the Marina, which is where trials were conducted.
The bus seems to be an open-deck variant of Switch Mobility’s EiV22 that is currently in service in Mumbai and Hyderabad. Only Hyderabad, however has the open-deck variant in service, although it looks vastly different from the one that was seen in Chennai. Given that Switch is rapidly making changes to its models based on commuter feedback, this could be due to that. You can read more about the double-deckers in Hyderabad here: Double Decker Buses Return To Hyderabad After Two Decades, City Of Pearls Becomes First To Launch Electric Version
Chennai is currently among the few metro cities in India without any electric buses. At the same time, after the Volvo fleet was scrapped, the new Ashok Leyland fleet is a fledgling and not enough for the city. You can read a review of these buses here: A Quick Review Of MTC’s AC Buses
Featured Image: Screengrab of the Switch Double Decker from Sun News’ Twitter
With the impending opening up of the Vandalur Kilambakkam Bus Terminus in southern Chennai, one fear among many of the city’s residents is not going away. The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has proposed to shut down the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) (also known as Puratchi Thalaivar Dr MGR Bus Terminus or MGR Koyambedu) permanently.
A little background
Broadway Bus Terminus. Photo Credit: Commercial Vehicles Magazine
Opened in 2002, CMBT is a 37-acre bus station that serves as Chennai’s primary terminus for mofussil and long distance buses operated by various government agencies. It is owned by the CMDA and operated jointly by the six divisions of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC), namely TNSTC Villupuram, TNSTC Coimbatore, TNSTC Salem, TNSTC Kumbakonam, TNSTC Tirunelveli and TNSTC Madurai. The remaining two arms of the TNSTC, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) and the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) also play a role in the daily operations.
Prior to 2002, Chennai had no dedicated bus station for long-distance buses. Few SETC buses usually operated out of one half of the Broadway bus terminus. Other SETC and nearby states’ buses would operate out of a vacant plot of land opposite Chennai Fort railway station, which today houses the Government Dental College and Hospital while private buses would operate from the Gandhi-Irvin Bridge Road near Chennai Egmore railway station on the banks of the Cooum river.
In the late 1990s, the wholesale market located at Kothawal Chavadi was moved to a 295 acre plot in Koyambedu. After this, the entire operations of all government buses was shifted to the new bus terminus at CMBT. A separate 6.7 acre bus station was built across the road, adjacent to the whole market. Named the Chennai Contract Carriage Bus Terminus (CCCBT), it handles between 350 to 450 private buses and 5,000 passengers a day.
Till 2018, CMBT was the hub for all TNSTC and SETC buses, as well as buses operated by the RTCs of Puducherry (PRTC), Karnataka (KSRTC), Kerala (also KSRTC), Andhra Pradesh (APSRTC), and Telangana (TSRTC). In 2018, TNSTC buses bound for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, as well as APSRTC and TSRTC buses were shifted out to Madhavaram Mofussil Bus Terminus (MMBT).
Madhavaram has its problems
Madhavaram Mofussil Bus Terminus (MMBT). Photo Credits: BNR Infrastructure
MMBT is an 8 acre, two-level bus terminus located at Madhavaram, adjacent to CMDA’s truck terminal, at the intersection of Grand Northern Trunk Road (GNT Road) that forms National Highway 16 (formerly NH5) and Inner Ring Road (IRR/State Highway 2). While it does feature two platforms for MTC buses, it otherwise lacks good connectivity. There are a few buses that connect it to CMBT and a lot of buses that connect it to Broadway or Vallalar Nagar (V Nagar/Mint Street). Passengers arriving from CMBT have to cross the road at the roundabout which witnesses heavy truck traffic. While MMBT and CMBT are located barely 10km apart, it can take up to 30-40 minutes to reach there.
Around 315 buses use the terminus daily, catering to an average of 12,000 passengers, with a higher number over the weekends. While TNSTC and APSRTC operate numerous services to Andhra Pradesh, TSRTC operates one Volvo service to Hyderabad. APSRTC operates several buses to Vijayawada. There are no buses to Visakhapatnam or Yanam and SETC doesn’t operate a single bus into either Telugu-speaking state. In fact the destination with the highest number of SETC routes apart from Chennai is Bangalore.
MMBT can handle 42 buses on the ground level and another 50 from the upper level. However, only government buses currently operate from MMBT while private buses continue to operate from CCCBT. This puts the former, especially APSRTC buses at a major disadvantage. Interestingly, some of TNSTC’s buses bound to Tirupati start from CMBT, which also gives it an unfair advantage over its Andhra Pradesh counterpart.
Connectivity to Madhavaram will eventually improve drastically. The under-construction lines 3 and 5 of the Chennai Metro both start at Madhavaram Milk Colony, located to the northeast of MMBT with Line 5 have a station outside MMBT. It will further continue on IRR and meet the Green Line at Koyambedu (not CMBT) and then at Alandur before meeting the MRTS at St Thomas Mount/Parangimalai. While the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) expects all three lines of Phase 2 to be completed by 2025, our friend TheMetroRailGuyestimates it to be completed no sooner than 2028.
Now coming to Vandalur Kilambakkam
While CMBT is currently Asia’s largest bus terminus at 37 acres, it will be soon dwarfed by the Vandalur Kilambakkam bus terminus that is spread across a whopping 88.5 acres. A timely reminder here that Delhi’s Millenium Park is not a bus station but a depot and therefore not Asia’s largest bus station.
With a total built-up area of 6.4 lakh square feet, it will feature 215 bus bays of which 130 will be for government buses and 85 will serve private buses. It will also have parking space for 300 buses, 275 cars and over 3,500 two-wheelers. An MTC terminal is being built adjacent to it, spread over 7.4 acres, nearly the area of MMBT. Interestingly the entire bus terminus lies within a protected and prohibited zone of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) as it contains Megalith Burial Sites. The National Monument Authority (NMA) gave a green signal so long as no commercial development took place for 100m in the region except for greenery and the CMDA installed the required signage.
By road, the distance between CMBT and Kilambakkam is exactly 30km if one were to take IRR till Kathipara and then continue onto Grand Southern Trunk Road (GST Road). The distance is the same if one were to go to Maduravoyal and take the Chennai Bypass till Irumbuliyur and then proceed along GST Road. Outer Ring Road (ORR) terminates on GST Road just north of the bus station. The nearest railway stations are Vandalur and Urapakkam on the Southern Line of the suburban railway, both of which are at least 10 minutes away. As for Metro, the nearest station is Chennai International Airport, located 16km away. After a long tussle between the Highways Department and CMRL, an extension of the Blue Line from Airport to Kilambakkam is on the map. The former wanted to build an elevated corridor on the route and the metro’s height will be decided accordingly. However, this will take several years to reach fruition and till then there will be heavy traffic. CMRL has also initiated feasibility studies to extend Line 3 (Madhavaram Milk Colony to Siruseri) to Kilambakkam via Kelambakkam (Get ready for more confusion). However this is light years away since the depot is at Madhavaram and most of the line runs underground and without a depot connection, nothing can happen.
One theory that I have heard is that private players would lobby the government to let them continue operating at CCCBT. This would put all TNSTC services at an unfair disadvantage and would hurt the poorer sections of society the most. Further, GST Road is the most congested highway in Chennai since it acts as a gateway to the entire south from Coimbatore to Madurai to Trichy to Tirunelveli and Nagarcoil. The time saved by buses in exiting the city will be lost in reaching the terminus. Auto and cab fares will end up costing the same as an intercity luxury bus ticket while bus journeys with luggage in MTC buses would be unbearable.
The worst hit would be commuters towards the West: Those heading to Vellore, Bangalore, Hosur, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri and even Salem, Erode and Coimbatore. Passengers living in North Chennai will also be affected badly. The bus journey from Bangalore which takes approximately six hours from Shantinagar to CMBT will go up by at least an hour and then there is the extra hour lost in getting to Chennai city itself.
Note: Bangalore-bound passengers won’t have to travel to Kilambakam at all. But it’s worse. Read the update section at the bottom of the post please.
The way ahead
The way ahead for CMBT isn’t all that difficult. It currently has connectivity to most parts of Chennai thru MTC buses, has a metro connection to both the major railheads (MGR Chennai Central and Chennai Egmore) and the airport.
Among the various proposals for the land, the most ridiculous one is to build a park. While I won’t deny that parks are important, the city is home to 632 parks as of 2019. The city’s per capita green cover stands at 8.5 square metres, just short of WHO recommendation of 9 square metres. In 2019, the began an ambitious plan to set up 67 new parks, mainly due to the destruction of close to one lakh trees in 2016 due to Cyclone Vardah.
CMBT can remain a bus terminus, albeit with some redevelopment. CMRL is in the process of redeveloping Broadway as a multi-storey bus terminal. MTC has been toying with this idea for the Thyagaraya Nagar (T Nagar) bus terminus for years now. CMBT could easily be redeveloped with a bus station at the ground level, parking and commercial operations above that. Bangalore has successfully done this. The Shantinagar bus depot was converted into a bus terminus with a Big Bazar and a parking lot atop the bus station back in the early 2000s. In fact, even the Kalasipalayam bus terminus, used mostly by private buses has been redeveloped in such a fashion. With bus and metro connectivity, the land will be premium, and give the CMDA a significant return on investment that can be used elsewhere.
There is no requirement for CMBT to shut down. Broadway didn’t shut down when CMBT opened up and in fact some SETC buses for Madurai still depart from Broadway. Many cities operate with multiple bus terminals. Mumbai has five outstation bus terminals while Pune has three. Bangalore has three and its central bus station, the Kempegowda Bus Station at Majestic was briefly downsized for metro construction. In the interim, certain buses were moved to Shantinagar and Mysore Road Satellite Bus Station at Bapujinagar. Today all three operate successfully.
But perhaps the most radical of all ideas came from a friend on Twitter, Krishnan. He tweeted that the site could be used for a future High Speed Rail terminal, and I could not agree any more. Given that the first HSR line to Chennai will connect it to Bangalore, it makes sense to keep the terminal somewhere near Poonamalle High Road/Grand Western Trunk Road (GWT Road). Given CMBT’s nature as the city’s pre-eminent transport hub, it makes perfect sense to make CMBT the HSR terminal as well. It will aid in quick commutes, fast transfers between different modes of transport, and will not hurt passengers’ wallets or watches.
Update
It’s 2024 and Kilambakkam (now nammed Kalaignar Centenary Bus Terminal or KCBT) is operational. While I haven’t been there, things aren’t smooth. MTC buses bound for KCBT are taking a minimum of an hour to reach there from Velachery. One good thing is 21G (Broadway to Vandalur Zoo) has been extended to KCBT, especially the AC bus but there are no AC buses from CMBT.
Private buses have refused to ply from KCBT and CMDA and the transport department has threatened to file criminal cases against them. Some buses were even forced to run empty from CMBT to KCBT. You can read more here. Southern Railways meanwhile has begun work on a new station which will take time to complete. On this note, do read: Urban Connectivity Chaos: People Managing Metro, Railway, Bus Stations Are Working In Silos by Srikanth Ramakrishnan on Swarajya.
For Bangalore and other West-bound passengers. It seems the powers that are have decided to make things worse for us. We will have to depart from another bus terminus, this time at Kuthambakkam near Thirumazhisai. This 25-acre bus terminus is touted to be completely air-conditioned and will feature a food court. The downside? It’s worse located than KCBT. It is approximately 9km from the Poonamalle junction and 2.5km from the highway. Getting there will obviously be a mess. It will feature 136 bus bays and CMDA is in the process of identifying access roads to be built. The Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) has asked for an extension of the metro to start work. This line, connecting Poonamalle too Light House is under construction and connects with the existing network at Vadapalani.
Let us pray that the administration does not miss this opportunity.
Featured Image: Chennai Mofussil Bus Station (Seshadri Sukumar/PIB Chennai)
In what can only be deemed a major embarrassment for the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) of Chennai, crewmembers belonging to the Chromepet Depot (CR/CW) were found to have disconnected the vehicle tracking devices and skipping interior regions in mini-bus routes. These buses, operating as “Small Bus” are generally operated as feeder services from metro, railway and bus stations to interior regions where the patronage is low.
According to a report in the Times of India, the issue came to light when residents of Chitlapakkam were unable to track the bus S100 that runs from Tambaaram to Chennai International Airport Metro Station. In May 2022, transport minister SS Sivashankar had launched the Chennai Busapp, developed in partnership with Chalo. MTC staff were reported to have disconnected the tracking devices in their bus and then skipped some regions altogether, thus leading to long waiting times. Officials of both the MTC and the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) warned the staff and even deputed officials on the buses to ensure that they did not skip any stops or routes.
This brings about an important question. What are we to do when services are being sabotaged by the staff themselves? A general warning is not good enough. There has to be serious consequences. A lack of pay or suspension without pay or even termination of employment would ideally make the best sense. At the end of the day, public transport is largely non-profitable and is funded by taxpayer money.
On another note, since MTC has brought back AC buses after a long time, maybe MTC could consider running AC mini-buses on certain routes, especially feeders for the metro.
Featured Image: MTC Small bus on Route S35 from Ashok Pillar/Ashok Nagar Metro Station to Defence Colony (Ekkattuthangal). Photo clicked in 2014 by Srikanth Ramakrishnan, available on the Wikimedia Commons.
Over the course of the last two weeks, I’ve been traveling a lot in MTC buses. During my rides, I got to try out the Metropolitan Transport Corporation’s (MTC, fkaPallavan) not so new air-conditioned buses.
These silver-coloured buses are Ashok Leyland buses built by Gemini Coach Builders in Karur. Introduced in January 2020 by former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, each bus costs ₹36 lakh and has a fare between ₹15 and ₹60. The buses have been allotted to different depots, I myself have boarded them from both the Adayar and Anna Nagar depots (AD and AN respectively).
They initially ran on route 570s between MGR Koyambedu (Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus/CMBT) and Siruseri IT Park and 91 from Thiruvanmiyur to Tambaram. They were later on extended to other routes such as 102 from Broadway to Kelambakkam. These buses marked the return of AC buses after a gap of one and a half years. Prior to this, MTC used to operate Volvo B7RLE buses till July 2018 with a minimum fare of ₹28.
Now coming to the inside of the bus.
Interior of MTC’s AC bus belonging to the Adayar depot running route 570S from MGR Koyambedu to Sirucheri IT Park (Srikanth Ramakrishnan/BESTpedia)
One thing I’ve observed about new MTC buses (and their counterparts across Tamil Nadu) is the tricolour LED display. Unlike the standard display that usually has only orange as a colour, these displays have three colours. The route number on the left-hand side is in red, the destination on the upper half of the remaining space is in green and the route underneath that is shown in white. There are two different manufacturers of these displays. One is Hosur-based Argee Equipment which supplies the displays for some of the new non-AC red buses. The remaining buses and the AC buses use displays manufactured by Coimbatore-based Wintra Engineering, who sells it under the brand name Rolls Tec Digital Passenger Information System.
Unfortunately the bus doesn’t have any internal display that shows which stop is arriving or anything. Neither is there an announcement system inside the bus. You’ll have to rely on common sense or the conductor shouting out the name of the stop.
Like all MTC buses, there is a single seat perpendicular and facing the gangway near the rear door for the conductor to sit on. All passenger seats and the conductor seat are super-plush and extremely comfortable. They are manufactured by Karur-based Sastha Seating. However, due to this, the gangway is slightly narrow and leg space is quite cramped. Some buses have different seats. These are manufactured by Swadzim, Poland-based STER seats. They are either STER’s 7T1 or Dynamic 20 seats.
Like all newer MTC buses, this one is also pretty high built, requiring you to climb a few tall steps to board and disembark. Not very accessible to be fair. The interesting thing however, is that there are two sets of string LED lights affixed to the steps which light up when the door opens, making it very convenient.
The biggest blunder in the bus is the presence of four-bar vertical grab poles near each door with one in the middle of the bus. These are similar to the ones in the Alstom-built Chennai metro and narrows the gangway further, making it sometimes difficult to cross without bumping into a fellow passenger. A single row of transparent plastic grab handles is there for passengers.
There are no luggage racks, as with most intra-city buses and unlike other AC buses (Volvo, Corona, Olectra, Tata, Force Motors, et al), the A/C vents are on the roof of the bus. This makes it out of reach for most passengers making it slightly difficult to close them or open them. On the bright side, it also makes them less vulnerable to damage. The air-conditioning itself is quite powerful and good to handle Chennai’s weather. No comparisons with them Purple Faeries here. There are no charging points or USB ports in the bus either.
The most fascinating thing I saw in this bus was in the seat directly behind the front door. The window seat has a metal ring attached to the wall of the bus meant for Divyang passengers who use crutches to hold them there.
Overall the bus is pretty comfortable, although it tends to get crowded really fast. There are no passes valid for this bus, all passengers have to buy a ticket. There are no daily passes available, MTC having done away with them after the 2018 fare hike.
Featured Image: MTC’s AC bus belonging to the Adayar depot running route 570S from MGR Koyambedu to Sirucheri IT Park (Srikanth Ramakrishnan/BESTpedia, available on the Wikimedia Commons)
If you are stepping out, do note that while masks are no longer mandatory, please stay safe, better safe than sorry.
After a lengthy gap, I’ve managed to come across another delightful drone image, this time it is one something that I have been looking for over the last year and a half. Throughout the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, we have seen aerial drone shots of different bus stations, depots and even a metro depot.
This is an aerial view of Asia’s largest bus terminus. Now before you get confused, this is not the erstwhile Millenium Park depot from Delhi. This is the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) officially known as the Puratchi Thalaivar Dr M. G. R Bus Terminus located at Koyambedu in Chennai. Spread over 37 acres, it serves as a common bus terminus for all outstation buses operated by the six Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporations (TNSTC) and the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) while also serving buses to other states including the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC). Till 2018, it also served Andhra Pradesh and Telangana-buses and buses of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Coporation (APSRTC) and Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), which have since been shifted to the Madhavaram Mofussil Bus Terminus (MMBT) in the northern suburbs of the city. It is also a major terminal for buses operated by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC), that is located at the front.
Take a look at this beautiful snap clicked by Beema with a DJI Mavic Air 2.
Apart from this, CMBT also houses a Metro station (officially the Puratchi Thalaivi Dr. J. Jayalalithaa CMBT Metro Station). The bus station was built in the early 2000s to decongest the earlier terminal located at Broadway near the Madras High Court. Behind the terminus is the Koyambedu Wholesale Market, the Chennai Contract Carriage Bus Terminus that caters to private outstation buses and the depot for the Green Line of the Chennai Metro.
That’s all from me this time folks. Do follow Beema on Instagram: @my_shutter_life.
Now you know what Asia’s largest bus terminus looks like from the air.
Thanks to the Wuhan Virus pandemic, the last one year has been bad for public transport. This has been problematic especially in larger cities such as Mumbai and Chennai. However, Chennai went a step ahead of other cities by installing something as elementary as hand sanitizer dispensers on all buses operated by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC).
Below is a picture that I clicked in January this year. At many places, conductors were insistent that people enter only thru the read door and sanitize their hands before purchasing a ticket. At Vadapalani bus station, several conductors even refused to let passengers board if they weren’t wearing masks or didn’t sanitize their hands.
Hand Sanitizer dispenser inside an MTC bus (Srikanth Ramakrishnan/BESTpedia)
While Tamil Nadu ranks second among deaths and fifth among total cases, one must remember that it is the most urbanised among India’s states (not counting Goa or Sikkim) with 48.15% of its population living in urban clusters. Kerala comes in second with Maharashtra with 47.7% and 45.2% respectively. These two states have meanwhile seen 1.14 million and 3.01 million total cases and nearly 5,000 and 56,000 deaths respectively as opposed to Tamil Nadu with 9 lakh total cases and 12,700 deaths. A special round of applause for Dr Beela Rajesh who served as the state’s health secretary from February 2019 to June 2020.
Tamil Nadu has done really well in its fight against the Wuhan Virus and one has to thank chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami for that. The state goes to polls on 6 April and I hope people remember EPS’ role in tackling the virus when they cast their votes.
Hand sanitizers in buses. Now why didn’t anyone else think of that?
Featured Image: MTC Tata Bharat Stage IV buses. Image Credits: Vinoth Thambidurai (VOMMspotter)
When you head out to vote for the AIADMK-PMK-BJP alliance on 6th, please remember to wear a mask, carry hand sanitizer and maintain social distancing.
A month ago, I had spotted BMTC running trials using JBM’s Electric Bus fleet on Bannerghatta Road. In that post, I had also mentioned that BMTC had received bids from Veera, Ashok Leyland, and Olectra for trials of electric buses under the Centre’s FAME programme. Now while Olectra and JBM’s buses are popular across the country, the only city that used Ashok Leyland (AshLey) EVs was Chennai’s Metropolitan Transport Corproation (MTC). Launched by chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami in 2019, the buses are 9m long midi-buses and are completely air-conditioned.
Today, I spotted one of these buses on trials with the BMTC on Bannerghatta Road. Below id the image of the bus.
Ashok Leyland AC Electric Bus on Bannerghatta Road (Srikanth Ramakrishnan/BESTpedia via Wikimedia Commons)
Ashok Leyland had tied up with Swiss-Swedish ABB Group to manufacture electric buses. I had interestingly, blogged about this back in October 2016; do read it here.
That’s all for the time being. This is really just an update, not more.
When you step out, please do take appropriate precautions.
Similar to the decision of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) of Chennai, fka Pallavan has also decided to implement a QR Code-based cashless ticketing mechanism on its buses.
The announcement was made by Tamil Nadu Minister of Transport M R Vijayabhaskar on 1 June 2020 via Twitter.
பேருந்துகளில் Cashless Transaction முறை அறிமுகப்படுத்தப்பட்டிருக்கிறது.
QR Code மூலமாக எந்தவொரு Cashless Transaction -ம் அனுமதிக்கப்படும்.
சோதனை முறையில் முதற்கட்டமாக 2 பேருந்துகளில் Paytm மூலம் Transaction செய்வதற்கான ஏற்பாடுகள் செய்யப்பட்டிருக்கிறது. #TNGovt#TNTransport
— M.R Vijayabhaskar (@OfficeofminMRV) June 1, 2020
In his tweet, Vijayabhaskar has said that QR-code based cashless transactions were now permitted and that a trial run had begun using Paytm. According to a report by The Hindu, the two buses were both bound for the Secretariat at Georgetown with one originating at Thyagaraya Nagar (T Nagar) and the other at Todhunter Nagar in Saidapet.
Officials at MTC have said that once more buses hit the street, the system will be extended to them as well. Commuters can use any UPI-based payment app such as Google Pay/Tez, Paytm, PhonePe, KhaaliJeb or their bank app.
The system is very similar to the system that the BMTC has set-up, which is essentially only for cashless transactions and not cashless ticketing.
While the immediate side-effect of this would be an increase in UPI adoption across Chennai, it will still remain a time-consuming method. In the long run, the state government has to promote the National Common Mobility Card as a means to go forward.
One hopes that the MTC’s parent body, the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) starts extending this to other cities including Coimbatore, Trichy and Madurai.
For UPI platforms, this is a golden opportunity to expand their footprint. While the better known apps like BHIM, PhonePe, Google Pay (formerly Tez) and Paytm have managed to get a market of their own, smaller niche apps like KhaaliJeb can make an impact here. KhaaliJeb (literally Empty Pocket in Hindi) is a UPI-based payments app designed for students. According the developers, the app has a student loyalty that will offer them discounts from merchants while also allowing them to split expenses. Given Chennai and Coimbatore’s status as educational hubs, this is the right time for such apps to strike gold.
If all goes well, it might seem like the Pallavan Kollavan (Killer Pallavan) tag might actually refer to cash.
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Featured image: An MTC bus belonging to the Central Depot on Route 21G from Broadway to Tambaram Railway Station. (Photo credits: VtTN on the Wikimedia Commons).
Propaganda is a very misused, overused and abused word today. Politicians use it all the time to attack each other. In such cases, we should take a closer look at the word Propaganda itself.
Merriam-Webster defines Propaganda as ideas or statements that are often false or exaggerated and that are spread in order to help a cause, a political leader, a government, etc.
Of course, we can take the liberty of interpreting Propaganda as a more open nature of promoting oneself or ones interests to an audience.
The most well known example of Propaganda is the 1940 film The Eternal Jew, directed by Fritz Hippler and produced by the Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels under the Deutsche Film Gesellschaft banner. The film was nowhere near subtle, and portrayed Jews as Uncivilised, Parasitic and worse. However, times have changed and propaganda in its current form is very subtle, often using bias to have its way.
In the recent times, propaganda has managed to make its way into the Transport sector too. When we say Propaganda in the Transport sector, we do not refer to naming stations, airports, roads and bridges after people. Mumbai has one major railway station and its airport named after Chhatrapati Shivaji. Bangalore has its central bus station and airport named after Kempegowda. This is a global phenomenon. New York’s major airport is named after former President John F Kennedy while it’s secondary airport is named after the 99th Mayor Fiorello La Gaurdia.
The propaganda we look at is subtle, and in some cases, not so subtle.
A Nationalistic Bus?
A BMTC Atal Sarige on route AS-6. Image copyright Binai K Sankar.
At first glance, the Atal Sarige operated by the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation [BMTC] looks like its livery is is draping the bus with the National Flag. But. It’s wrong. If you take a second look, you’d notice that the colour scheme is White, Green and Saffron/Orange. The party colours of the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP]. Further, the name itself is a giveaway. Named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the BJP, the bus was meant to serve the poorest of the poor.
Note: If you’re Mumbai, the highest fare is on a bus with its route number starting with AS, and if you’re in Bangalore, it’d be the opposite.
And now, for a little Aesthetics.
A TSRTC Metro Luxury Volvo at Lingampally. Image copyright LoveOfZ, CC-BY-SA 4.0 International, Wikimedia Commons.
Pink is known to be a very soothing colour. It is often used to calm inmates in prison.
However, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation [TSRTC] bus above did not turn pink to soothe its commuters. Telangana State was formed in 2014, and the party that won a majority in its Assembly Elections was the Telangana Rashtra Samithi [TRS], whose party colour is Pink. Thus, everyone who sees the bus will remember the colour pink and every time there is a campaign by the TRS, people will be calm, because, Hey, Pink is a soothing colour.
Switching Colours
And now, for the most interesting, and perhaps most noteworthy form of Bus-based propaganda.
Welcome to Tamil Nadu, where all the various divisions of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation [TNSTC], the Metropolitan Transport Corporation [MTC] of Chennai and the State Express Transport Corporation [SETC] are like Chamelons. Remember the phrase “गिरगिट की तरह रंग बदलना” (Girgit Ke Tarah Rang Badalna)? That’s what TNSTC/SETC/MTC buses do. Change colours; Every time the government changes. It’s like an unwritten part of the party manifesto.
Here’s a picture of an MTC bus taken in April 2011 below. It’s blue in colour. Blue is also a soothing colour, although I fail to understand why anyone would want to say ‘Feeling Blue’ to refer to Sadness.
A blue coloured MTC Semi Low Floor bus on route number 21G. Image copyright Vinoth Thambidurai/CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported/Wikimedia Commons.
This picture was taken in April 2011, a month before the All India Anna Dravida Munnethra Kazhagam [AIADMK] government won the elections. Colour combinations were aplenty across Tamil Nadu. Some buses bore different shades of blue and yellow, some were white with Red, Yellow and Orange stripes across them, there were many.
Now, they are all uniform. While, I did mention Fragmentation in an earlier post, it would be great if each city had its own identity in terms of colours. Here, Tamil Nadu is one single entity in terms of coloured buses.
All long distance buses, including all SETC buses are now Green in Colour. They’re light green in colour with dark green stripes, or dark green in colour with light green stripes, depending on how you may want to look at them. Local buses, including all MTC buses all sport the same Brown-Beige combination which makes it look like the bus wasn’t washed at all. Perhaps a plan to not wash the buses regularly.
Below, is one such repainted bus, taken in 2013, belonging to TNSTC Coimbatore.
A TNSTC CBE bus at Vadavalli in Coimbatore. Image copyright Faheem9333/CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported/Wikimedia Commons.
See, what did I tell you? Where did this come from? Some people tell me that the colour has to do with what happened before this repainting. Barely three-four months before the buses got this brown colour, they had a different colour.
An MTC bus in the intermediate colour scheme. Image: The Hindu
Notice the colours? Notice the photo of Jayalalithaa on the windscreen? I know it’s a bit difficult to see it, but can you see it. In the picture, Jaya is seen wearing a saree that is the same colour as the Maroon on the bus. Her complexion matches the beige on the bus. Tada! When the paint jobs were done, all buses sported a huge photo of the Chief Minister on the front windshield on the left hand side.
And now, finally …
Green Leafy Vegetables Buses
They say, greens are good for health. They say Green is a sign of Eco-Friendliness. But, the leaves here don’t exactly say that do they?
An MTC Small Bus [Mini Bus]. Image: The Hindu While MTC curiously chose to name these buses as ‘Small Bus’, not ‘Mini Bus’, they also decided to put a few leaves on it. No points for guessing why. The AIADMK’s Party symbol is: Yes, that’s right, Two Leaves! But, wait! You can see four leaves on that bus! Simple: 2+2=4. The more the merrier. Two more leaves is just going to reinforce things into the commuters head.
Now, notice something common among all these Transcos mentioned? They’re all State-level bodies, not Municipal ones. You’ll never see BEST, AMTS, or PMPML like this. Why? Decentralisation of transport management ensures that while Municipal Bodies have the wherewithal to run the Transco, they won’t have the time or resources to go behind such trivial stuff. They’ll have more important stuff such as banners, roads, naming of Chowks to work in their favour.
On an unrelated note: Searching for Purple Faeries on Google leads you to the Tag Purple Faeries. I call this, Purple Propaganda..
While BEST has reduced its fares, leading us to believe that the new fare structure incorporates this 6% increase, others have hiked fares. TSRTC Hyderabad and BMTC have increased the cost of a Daily Pass from ₹150 and ₹140 to ₹160 and ₹150 respectively, BEST has reduced it from ₹200 to ₹150. MSRTC charges a rupee extra for its Shivneri/Ashwamedh services, though this has been there from somewhere in April, thus making it probably unrelated.
While I am for government measures to increase the tax base, this is most certainly not the right way. Let the government start taxing rich farmers instead. The reasons I’m opposed to this tax are:
BEST – We all know the story behind BEST and its Purple Faeries. Barring a few buses from the Oshiwara Depot, these buses are pathetically underpowered, have terribly low-powered airconditioning. They struggle to climb simple slopes. Their Volvo fleet is in good shape however. However, in light of the recent fare reduction, I guess we can give BEST a breather in this section.
BMTC – The first to implement the new Tax, the BMTC had a very interesting thing to do. They used to issue the regular ticket with the ETMS, but charge the Tax with the old Punched tickets. Thus, I used to get a ₹20 printed ticket and a ₹1 punched ticket. BMTC finally managed to incorporate this tax on the ETMs, but now I have pay ₹22 because the Tax amount is rounded off to the next rupee irrespective of how much it is. However, this move is unwarranted because BMTC buses are bad. The older FA series of Volvo buses are rickety, pollute a lot and water leaks in thru the emergency exits. The Corona fleet have buses where the airconditioning just does not work. The newer 57F series Volvos rarely come to the Public because they spend most of their time on Corporate trips for the ORRCA or Manyata Embassy Tech Park.
MTC – Possibly among the worst Volvo fleet, MTC has 100 odd buses which are in horrendous conditions. Buses creak, and reapairs carried out are not what one you’d expect in a Volvo. Damages sections of the exterior and interior are usually patched up with Substandard Aluminium that is used in the regular buses instead of Volvo’s standard Steel or Glass. If this is the condition of the exterior, you can imagine how the Engine or AC might be. However, knowing TN, they might have not implemented this tax as it goes against the populist nature of the state.
DTC – The worst AC bus fleet that I have seen, DTCs Ashok Leyland buses and Tata Marcopolo buses at times do what no other Transco’s buses do. The BEST Cerita AC struggles while climbing a slope. The BMTC Corona AC struggles when the bus is in heavy traffic. The DTC AshLey and Marco AC struggles when the bus is on regular traffic, and even on minor downward slopes! With the maximum fare on an AC bus set to ₹25, this tax is most certainly a welcome move. Delhi is used to subsidies and cheap stuff and it is high time that AC bus fares were increased in the capital.
TSRTC – TSRTC has also increased its fares, but I am confused on which side to take. TSRTC has among the best Volvo fleets in the country, atleast in Hyderabad. The buses are maintained well, operate on good routes and frequencies, and are in general above expectations. However, the fares are already on the higher side, and thus the extra bit is a little unwarranted.
On the whole, I think this Additional Tax needs to be rolled back. It’s a bad idea to tax the Middle Class more. The upper class doesn’t take the bus, the lower class doesn’t take an AC bus. As always, increasing the Tax Base comes and burns the Middle Class pocket.
![An MTC Small Bus [Mini Bus].](http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/02108/Mini_Bus_TH_2108183f.jpg)