Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Chennai)

The Pallavan Transport Corporation Ltd was established on 1 January 1972 with a fleet strength of 1,029 buses. The operational jurisdiction is the Chennai Metropolitan area. It served 176 routes and had 8 depots, including those at T. Nagar, Adyar, and Vadapalani. Depots at Anna Nagar and K.K. Nagar were established in 1973.[2] The Pallavan Transport Corporation was split into two and a new Corporation, namely, Dr. Ambedkar Transport Corporation Ltd. started functioning from 19 January 1994. The depots in the northern areas of the city were brought under Dr. Ambedkar Transport Corporation Ltd and the southern depots came under Pallavan Transport Corporation. Pallavan Transport Corporation was renamed as Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Madras Division - I) Limited and Dr. Ambedkar Transport Corporation was renamed as Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Madras Division - II) Ltd., on 1 July 1997.

In order to make the Corporations viable, and for better administrative control, Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Madras Division II) was amalgamated with Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Madras Division I) Ltd on 10 January 2001. The fleet strength of the Corporation at 1 March 2009 was 3,260 with 25 depots, a body building unit at Chromepet, a ticket printing press at K.K.Nagar and Reconditioning Unit at Patullos Road. During the year 2002–2003, 117 buses have been purchased for replacement. After 2007, thousands of number of buses are purchased for new services as well as replacement for old buses.

As of 2012, the corporation operates 42,961 services daily in 800 routes.[3] The driver strength at MTC is 5,000 as against a required driver strength of 5,800.[4]

The total size of fleet of the MTC is 3688, of which 3492 buses are operated every day on an average. MTC operates over 5000 services daily covering about 830 routes. The last time buses were added to the fleet was in January 2020.[5]

Per RTO rules, an MTC bus could accommodate a maximum of 83 passengers, including 48 sitting and 27 standing. However, buses carry over 160 passengers in some routes, especially during peak hours, with many travelling on the footboard of the bus resulting in several accidents. According to Union Transport Ministry of India on March 22, 2016, Chennai was reported to have the most crowded buses in the country with 1300 passengers per bus per day per direction. This is due to the extensive routes the buses ply to and also the cost which is reasonably less than some of the major cities in the country. An exclusive and efficient BRTS on dedicated elevated roads is being proposed by MTC as well as the Tamil Nadu Government in order to improve the share of public transport. For a city like Chennai, ideally more than 60% of the people should be using public transport systems. However, owing to its vehicle density which is the second highest in the country, only 40% of the citizenry use public transport which is quite low.

Deluxe bus from Ashok Leyland

An ordinary fare (white board) bus

MTC's Tata Marcopolo Bus

New vestibule bus with LED display

An MTC AC Volvo Service

A MTC SLF plying route 21G

Normal buses These buses in the MTC fleet were manufactured by Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors. These buses were launched in the 1990s and some continue to ply while the majority have been replaced in favor of newer buses.

Semi-Low floor buses The semi-low floored and deluxe buses have improved passenger amenities like improved lighting, plastic moulded seats and driver operated pneumatic, doors into its fleet. The first set of such buses from Ashok Leyland were introduced in February 2007. The newer range of these semi-low floor buses supplied under JnNURM are BS-III compliant and have LED displays. Some continue to ply while most of them are replaced by newer buses

Vestibule services MTC also runs articulated buses provided by Ashok Leyland in congested routes. The fares are similar to those of ordinary services. These buses have 2 conductors, plastic moulded seats and LED boards. Around the end of 2017, some of these buses are condemned and no longer in service.

Air-conditioned buses MTC earlier operated low-floor Volvo B7RLE air conditioned buses on selected routes. There were 100 of these buses running on select routes at regular intervals when they were introduced. They stopped operating in 2018 owing to poor and higher cost of maintenance, and replaced in favor of newer Ashok Leyland electric buses.[6]

Small buses MTC has launched small bus services to connect remote places of Chennai and its suburbs. These buses are provided by Tata.

The Metropolitan Transport Corporation has 34 depots, each with an average parking capacity of 200 buses.

The 34 depots of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (as of 2018) are listed below:

As of 2012, MTC's advertisement revenue per month is ₹ 86 lakhs.[8] About 2,000 of the MTC's 3,400 buses have been maintained by companies that advertise on the buses since December 2011, but the advertisement space was open for all to bid. In 2012, MTC decided to allow only those companies that take up the cleaning assignment. Still they will have to pay the market rate for the space, while they will get paid for the cleaning. As of 2012, the corporation pays ₹ 18 per bus per cleaner every day.[9]

As of 17 Apr 2013 The total revenue per day of all the buses is 2.75 cr [10]

The MTC buses have an occupancy ratio (average number of passengers to total seating capacity in a bus) of 84.35%. Each MTC bus can carry 72 people, including 24 standing passengers. The occupancy ratio in Chennai is amongst the highest for the 38 transport corporations in the country.[11] [12]

The MTC services are not integrated with the Mass Rapid Transit System.[13] Some of the MRTS stations are located away from bus stops which makes transfers difficult.[14][15] Recently mini-buses have started to ply as a feeder to plug the gaps in connectivity. There are buses to various parts of the city from the airport and some air passengers and many airport employees, use the service. The bus stop is close to the international terminal.[16]

The accident rate of MTC is high compared to similar metropolitan transport corporations in the country.[17] In Chennai, 104 people died in 2012 in accidents involving MTC buses. The driver unions are blamed for violations going unpunished and continuing unabated.[18][19] [20]

To mitigate the no. of accidents, officials of the corporation and the traffic police conduct refresher courses and yoga classes for MTC drivers.[18][21][22]

There have complaints about operator behavior[23] on MTC buses and these have been effectively addressed by the administration by having special counseling and yoga sessions for the workers.[24][25] The entrances to most buses have at least two steps. This poses difficulty for some passengers to alight or board the buses.[26] Some of the bus stations are poorly maintained.[27]

MTC officials are under pressure from councilors and MLAs to introduce new bus routes to or through their constituency even though such a move may not be the most profitable of options. "While this is not always bad as certain routes need to be run even if they are not profitable, MTC as an operator should cover its basics first and meet the demands along high-capacity routes," said an expert in the field of public transport.

• Transport in Chennai

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Chennai).

• MTCBus.org - official website
• Operation details under RTI
• BusRoutes.In - Chennai bus and train route maps
• MTC Volvo AC Bus Timings