The quality of life in our urban and rural areas is directly related to the quality of the local public transport, especially bus transport. There is a clear need in the population for high quality, efficient, reasonably priced, safe and secure local bus transport. Such a transportation system will reduce climate change emissions thereby making a significant contribution to environmental protection. Urban transport is thus an issue of great importance and it is likely to become even more important in the future. In the State of Tamilnadu, the bus transportation system is a dominant mode of transport covering the length and breadth of the State. It touches every aspect of a common man’s life. Since mobility in the present day is very important, the State Transport Undertakings spare no effort in providing this to the satisfaction of the travelling public. Every effort is being made to make the public bus transportation popular and efficient so that more and more people use the system thereby reducing traffic congestion and consequent air pollution. In order to achieve this objective, the Government have recently constituted Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) for Chennai City in order to integrate all public modes of transport and maximise the benefits for the public. In the near future people using public transport, especially bus transport, should find it easy to travel from one place to another without any problem.

The transport operations were under the direct control of the Government till 1971, when they were brought under various Transport Corporations registered under the Companies Act, 1956.

Thereafter, the Government appointed two Committees of Experts called the Pattabiraman Committee in 1976 and the Thillainayagam Committee in 1990 to study, in depth, the existing operations of the State Transport Undertakings and suggest measures to improve them. The recommendations of these Expert Committees have been implemented wherever possible.

2. 1 Amalgamation of State Transport

As a step towards streamlining the operations of State Transport Undertakings leading to reduction in the administrative overhead expenses and avoidance of wasteful competition in the operation of services among the Corporations, the Government amalgamated 21 Transport Corporations into 7 Transport Corporations. The present arrangement of Transport Corporations in the State is compact and efficient.

The State Transport Undertakings have operated 253.83 crores kilometers during 2007-08 (Upto February’08) with an increase of 25.78 crore kilometers over the previous year 2006-07 (Upto February’07). Single day highest collection by all STUs together made on 11-2-2008 is Rs 15.29 crores. The fleet strength of all State Transport Undertakings on 31-5-2006 was 17104. The fleet strength has increased to 19388 as on 29-2-2008 inspite of replacement of 3997 overaged buses by all State Transport Undertakings during this period. Thus the overall fleet strength has grown by 2284 buses, the percentage of growth being 13.35 in the last 1½ years.

The State Transport Undertakings have been consistently bagging national awards in achieving the best physical parameters. The Union Planning Commission while reviewing the performance of Tamil Nadu State Transport Undertakings have commented that Tamil Nadu State Transport Undertakings is one of the best amongst the various State Road Transport Undertakings in the country. Especially, the best performance is in fleet utilisation, Kilometres efficiency, Occupancy Ratio, Fuel efficiency. It must be added that this performance has been achieved under difficult circumstances.

During the year 2007-2008, 614 new routes have been introduced in response to the public demand. The "MTC- Passenger’s meet " was organized by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation Limited, in the presence of Hon’ble Minister for Transport and Worshipful Mayor of Chennai Corporation on 3-12-2007 at Chennai. A large number of passengers and others participated. The introduction of new type of buses was widely welcomed by the public. A total number of 1,188 suggestion / representations were received from the public / people’s representatives. Based on these representations 36 new routes and 42 additional services in the existing routes were introduced in Chennai in the first phase.

Despite good performance in the physical parameters, which have been appreciated by the Union Planning Commission, the financial conditions of the State Transport Undertakings have come under considerable pressure in the absence of revision of fare. The period of Wage Settlement to workmen of Transport Corporations was brought down from five years to three years and the new Wage Settlement was signed on 6-2-2008 and made effective from 1^st September 2007. The Wage Settlement is effective for three years. The Additional financial commitment in this regard will be Rs. 205 crores per annum. Further due to recent diesel price hike with effect from 15-2-2008 the loss to the State Transport Undertakings is increased by Rs.5.60 crores per month (Rs.67 crores per annum). Due to the increase in the establishment and operational costs especially the diesel cost, which comprises about 38 % of the total cost and the fare per kilometer remaining unrevised for last six years and hence being the lowest in the country, the overall expenditure of the STUs has increased. The anticipated loss for the year 2007-08 will be Rs.407.06 crores, against the actual loss of Rs.281.81 crores in 2006-07

There is considerable improvement in use of HSD and the KMPL of HSD oil consumed has improved from 4.96 (Upto February‘07) to 5.02 (Upto February‘08). The approximate savings on account of improvement in KMPL is around Rs.20.91 Crores (Upto February’08). Similarly engine oil consumption per 10000 kms has come down from 5.85 litres to 4.71 litres (Upto February’08).

3.2 Increase in Diesel cost

The Government of India periodically revises the price of the Petroleum products depending upon global prices. The expenditure on consumption of diesel for the STUs was Rs.1725 crores in the year 2006-07. The price of diesel oil was increased with effect from 15-2-2008. This expenditure is likely to go up further during the current year 2007-08 to Rs.1860 crores.

Because of continuous loss, the STUs are facing the following outstanding liabilities as on 29-02-2008.

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During the year 2007-08 the Government has provided financial assistance of Rs.277.20 crores to State Transport Undertakings for purchase of new buses. So far 3754 new buses have been brought in to service upto February 2008. Hon’ble Chief Minister has inaugurated 1094 new buses of all State Transport Undertakings at the function held at Chennai on 03-01-2008. In the coming financial year 3500 new buses will be purchased with financial assistance of Rs.330 crores from the Government and balance from own funds.

The fare per Kilometre in Tamilnadu is the lowest in the country. The existing fare structure for Mofussil services in Tamilnadu with comparative figures of  neighbouring States is given below.

(In Paise per K.M.)

The fare in Tamilnadu has not been revised since December 2001 in the interest of the travelling public, though the cost of Diesel and Establishment cost have increased substantially.

The accident compensation commitment has gone up drastically from Rs.16.03 crores in the year 1991-92 to Rs.109 crores in the year 2007-2008 (Latest Estimate). Hence, the Government accorded importance to accident prevention measures to reduce road accidents involving State Transport Undertaking buses. This Government's focus is on road safety, reduction and avoidance of accidents. As the role of the drivers is very important in avoiding accidents, regular refresher trainings, Yoga classes, safety clinics, brain storming sessions in driver training schools, safety driving award schemes, special increment to the drivers who perform duty without any accident for 10 years etc. are being undertaken by the State Transport Undertakings to ensure safe driving by the drivers of State Transport Undertakings. In the Budget for 2008-09, it has been proposed to award medals and cash prizes to the drivers of State Transport Undertakings who have accident-free record. The Institute of Road Transport selects young and energetic youths who have completed SSLC for an intensive 12 week training on driving heavy transport vehicles. They are also trained in attending to repairs in heavy vehicles, first aid etc. They are given priority in appointment in State Transport Undertakings. The Government have also ordered that a pass in SSLC / 10^th Std. instead of 8^th Std. should be the Minimum Educational Qualification for appointment of drivers in State Transport Undertakings. In certain State Transport Undertakings, system of 2 drivers has been introduced for driving the long distance vehicles during night journeys to reduce driver's fatigue. The Government have issued an order on suspension/cancellation of Driving Licenses for traffic violations. The State Transport Undertakings are uniformly taking tough stand on accidents by dismissing erring drivers.

The number of Heavy Vehicle Driver Training Centres have been increased from 5 Centres to 17 Centres. A total number of 353 candidates have joined in the Heavy Vehicle Driver Training Centres for the course offered for the period from 7-1-2008 to 28-3-2008. The proposal for establishment of Transport Training Academy at Chromepet (Chennai) has been sent to the Ministry of Shipping, Transport and Highways, Government of India, New Delhi. So far 42,902 persons have been trained.

In certain important bus stands and bus stops in Chennai City and other important cities, glow sign advertisement Boards have been provided for better security of passengers. To facilitate inter-transfer service, provision for parking the two wheelers of the commuters at the bus stands has been made. As the operations of Metropolitan and long distance buses have been shifted to the new Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus at Koyambedu, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation has introduced many buses in new routes to enable the commuters to reach the Koyambedu Bus Stand. Besides, the Operational jurisdiction of Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Chennai) Limited has been extended by 10 more kilometres.i.e., upto 50 kms. and Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Chennai) Limited, is operating services to places like Maraimalai Nagar, Chengalpattu, Padappai, Thiruporur, Sriperumpudur and Sunguvar Chatram from January 2008 onwards. These extended services have been well received by the public. They have fulfilled a long-felt need. Similarly, Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Chennai) Limited has introduced Yellow Line and Blue Line Deluxe services and Semi–Low Floor bus services to fulfil the demands of the public for faster and more comfortable journey. Introduction of Volvo Air-conditioned Services in Chennai City have been received well by the Public, who want more of such services. Because of introduction of such high quality bus services in Chennai city, people have started switching from two / three wheelers to the Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses. The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Chennai) Limited, has proposed to implement Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) under which a sum of Rs.1300 Crores will be spent for improvement of passenger transport in Chennai city in a span of 7 years. Construction of New depots / Terminals, improvement of infrastructure in existing depots/ Terminals, modernisation of passenger information system by installing Digital Board in Bus terminals to display the arrival and departure timings of bus service, monitoring bus movement by "Global Positioning System" are proposed under this project. Already, Vehicle Tracking and Control System (VTCS) has been in operation for last one year in Metropolitan Transport Corporation and State Express Transport Corporation (Chennai – Trichy route) whereby the bus movements are monitored on real time basis and arrival of buses at bus stops is displayed in the digital boards put up at bus stops. This pilot project is funded by the Government of India. It is proposed to extend this facility based on GPS technology to at least 1000 Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses in Chennai City. Similarly, State Express Transport Corporation has introduced On-line Ticket Reservation System (OTRS) since last year for the benefit of passengers. Under this scheme, a passenger can book tickets from "anywhere to anywhere". There are 42 reservation counters spread over the State where this facility has been provided. Extension of OTRS facility to other State Transport Undertakings (except MTC) is under way. In the next step, internet booking of bus Tickets will be made available to the public of Tamil Nadu. State Transport Corporations have introduced Electronic hand held Bus Ticketing machine, for the convenience of both the Conductors and passengers.

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