Government plans to procure additional buses

CHENNAI: In a bid to reduce the inadequacy of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation fleet to handle the mass transit trips in the metropolis, plans are on to procure additional buses to close the gap in the fleet size by accessing external assistance from the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank or other lending agencies.Sources told Express that since the present bus fleet of 3,421 is grossly inadequate, there has been a proposal to seek external assistance from the World Bank or Asian Development Bank besides other sources like Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission or procuring buses from private sector by wet leasing, etc.Interestingly, a Chennai Traffic and Transport Study in 1992-95 recommended a minimum fleet size of 5,000 from 1995-2000. Surprisingly, the city now has only 3,400 buses which is far from the required strength.Surprisingly, the recently completed CTTS recommends 5,500 buses by 2016, 6,600 buses by 2021 and 8,000 by 2026. The proposal to increase the fleet was discussed during the sixth meeting of the working committee on Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority on November 2011 and it was felt that the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority could make appropriate policy to facilitate the MTC to procure additional buses. “Even the Environmental Protection Control Authority at one of its periodical review meetings at Chennai suggested that MTC should aim at a bus fleet size of 10,000,” sources said. As per the draft report of the Steering Committee on Urbanisation, 12th plan,  the country requires 39,456 buses at an investment of Rs 13,759 crore.