Chennai: Relocating the Broadway bus terminal
The Broadway bus terminal, one of the busiest in the city for Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses, is scheduled to be temporarily moved to make way for the Greater Chennai Corporation’s building of a 21-story multi-modal hub. The center will have government offices, business structures, and parking areas for MTC cars, buses, and two-wheelers.
At a high-level coordination meeting on Tuesday, representatives from the transport, tourist, traffic police, metro water, Chennai Corporation, CMRL, and metro water ministries made the decision to temporarily move the terminal.
“Administrative work for the terminal’ temporary relocation to Island Grounds will soon start. The government’s consent is required before the endpoint is moved. The construction and upkeep of public restrooms, safety concerns, traffic diversion, possible bottlenecks in the Island Grounds, store space allocation, and other problems have all been examined, according to an MTC official.
The municipal corporation has started the process of building an alternate temporary bus station for MTC on Island Grounds. The municipal government has released bids for the construction of the temporary bus shelter, which is expected to cost `4.95 crore.
The municipal corporation is considering an alternate solution for bus accommodations since the construction on the Broadway terminal is expected to take around two and a half years.
As a temporary solution, Island Grounds has been carefully considered, but there are a few things that need to be resolved first. For example, they could need parking while a trade show is held there. Thus, this (the site) has not been decided upon yet, a senior official of the company said.
College students, merchants, and daily wagerers from North Chennai have been regular customers of the Broadway terminal; the possibility of offering shuttle services to Broadway from Island Grounds was also mooted.
The official went on, “A final decision has not yet been made.” In order to link places like Tambaram, Guindy, Ennore, Tiruvottiyur, Thiruvanmiyur, Kovalam, Anna Nagar, Poonamallee, and others, the terminal now runs 829 buses per day on 162 routes. The terminal serves 2.2 lakh travelers a day on average.
Ten years ago, the hub was suggested as a solution to relieve traffic on the streets of Broadway, Esplanade, George Town, and other northern areas of the city where there is a shortage of space. However, the idea was never implemented since it was difficult to find a suitable spot for the terminus’s relocation.
