Transport Minister Vijay Tamilan Parthiban Reviews State Bus Corporations' Operations

PRESS RELEASE As per the orders of the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Thiru C. Joseph Vijay, the Hon'ble Minister for Transport Thiru A. Velian Thamizharasan today (08.06.2026) reviewed the functioning of the Tamil Nadu Government Transport Corporations with senior transport department officials. As per the Chief Minister's directive, the Transport Minister held the review today at the Metropolitan Transport Corporation head office, with Transport Department Secretary Dr. Ma. Vallalar, IAS; Special Secretary Smt. R. Lilly, IAS; Managing Director, Metropolitan Transport Corporation, Thiru T. Prabhushankar, IAS; Managing Directors of all Transport Corporations; the Director of the State Express Transport Corporation; sole officers; Chief Financial Officers; General Managers; and other senior officials. Tamil Nadu operates 21,527 buses through eight State Transport Corporations, 26 divisions, 317 depots, 20 workshops and 28 driver training schools. About 2.05 crore people use this service daily. Free travel facilities are also provided to students, differently-abled persons, freedom fighters, senior Tamil scholars, awardees, Tamil language martyrs, Kalaimamani awardees, and women. At the review meeting, the Minister directed officials to ensure punctual operation of buses, clean maintenance, courteous behaviour towards passengers, priority seating for students, senior citizens and differently-abled persons, and proper boarding and alighting of passengers only at designated stops. He also directed attention to staff welfare and occupational safety, upgrading depot standards, infrastructure improvement, ensuring regular bus services during festivals and weekly holidays, maintenance of air-conditioned buses, and careful inspection and improvement of food quality at highway restaurants. He directed that drivers and conductors must strictly avoid using mobile phones while on duty, and that villages and hill villages without transport facilities be identified and new routes created. Under IT modernisation, he directed steps to popularise the Chennai One App among the public, introduce voice-command facility for online booking, develop an app to show seat availability and real-time bus arrival information, and bring long-distance buses fully under online booking to eliminate unreserved seats. He also emphasised generating additional revenue through advertisements on buses and properties and through rentals, extending metro rail connectivity to the Kilambakkam bus terminus, announcing helpline numbers and departure times through public address systems and real-time digital display boards at bus stations, and expanding special buses for school students. He directed that headlights, rear red lights and reflective stickers on buses be checked and necessary replacements made on a war footing. Following the review, the Minister inspected the Metropolitan Transport Corporation's (MTC) integrated command and control centre and directed officials to attend to passenger complaints received on the Transport Department's toll-free number 149 and take appropriate action. Issued by: Director, Directorate of Information and Public Relations, Chennai-9