In a welcome move for commuters travelling within Chennai city ahead of Deepavali, the Tamil Nadu government has announced round-the-clock Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses. On Wednesday, the Department of Transport announced that 310 special buses would also be operated to facilitate festival crowds.
The move is to enable commuters travelling in and out of the city to other districts, to main transport entry points like Chennai Central Railway Station or the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) in Koyambedu. The intercity buses will leave from five places: CMBT Bus Stand, Madhavaram New Bus Stand, Poonamallee Bus Stand, Tambaram Bus Stand and KK Nagar Bus Stand.
A special reservation counter will be inaugurated by Transport Minister MR Vijayabaskar on Thursday. These counters will be in place till Saturday. As per previous years, commuters travelling for distances more than 300 km in special buses can book their tickets through the www.tnstc.in website.
CMBT Bus Stand: Buses leaving via GST road from CMBT will take the route through Maduravoyal, Poonamallee, Nazarathpet, Outer Ring Road and Vandalur in order to reach Urapakkam, as opposed to the Tambaram-Perugalathur road.
Madhavaram New Bus Stand: Tamil Nadu state and APSRTC buses to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh via Red Hills will leave from Madhavaram.
Poonamallee Bus Stand: Buses to Kancheepuram, Arcot, Arani, Vellore, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Tirupattur, Hosur, Chittoor and Tirupati via Tiruttani would leave from Poonamallee.
Tambaram Bus Stand: While buses to Kumbakonam and Thanjavur via Tindivanam will take off from Tambaram Sanatorium, buses to Tiruvannamalai via Tindivanam and Madurantakam, Polur, Chetpet, Vandavasi and Gingee, Panruti, Neyveli, Vadalur, Chidambaram, Kattumannarkoil, Puducherry, Cuddalore, Chidambaram via Tindivanam will leave from the Tambaram Railway Station bus stand.
KK Nagar Bus Stand: Buses headed to Puducherry, Cuddalore and Chidambaram via ECR will leave from KK Nagar New Bus Stand.