Summary:
While about 20 trips per day were made to Tirupur from Coimbatore, 12 trips each were made to Pollachi and Mettupalayam.Reacting to this, a TNSTC official said the revenue loss or gain could not be calculated now for point-to-point buses that had plied for less than a week. COIMBATORE: None of the conductor-less buses being operated from Coimbatore have obtained permit from the regional transport authority (RTA) till date.On Saturday, the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) started to operate 44 conductor-less point-to-point buses from Coimbatore to several locations to reduce travelling time of passengers.A TNSTC official said, “We have replaced the old buses, which stop at several places in between the destinations, with the point-to-point buses.” The traveling time of the passengers would be reduced by 10 to 15 minutes in the point-to-point buses.On the flip side, introduction of point-to-point buses would reduce the number of old buses with stage carriage service. Many passengers who would be travelling from or to the places between the destinations would be affected, said K Kathirmathiyon of Coimbatore Consumer Forum.“As per norms, TNSTC will have to obtain permission from the RTA to convert a bus with stage carriage service to express service. The travelling time would not be reduced to these destinations as the buses travel through the city where the traffic congestion is high, he added.“We have lost many passengers and revenue of about Rs 3,000 per bus per day,” he said, adding that the passengers prefer to travel in private buses which stop at several junctions. Who gave them the permit to operate point-to-point buses on these routes,” he questioned.An official from the regional transport office said, “We neither obtained any proposal from the TNSTC nor gave permission to them to operate express routes.”He said point-to-point buses are not supposed to collect excess fare from the passengers without getting prior permission from the RTA.But the TNSTC is collecting 1.5 times more fare for point-to-point buses than the ordinary ones.The official said it is a clear violation of rules..