Over 75% TNSTC buses stay off roads in Coimbatore

More than 700 members of various trade unions removed for staging demonstrations in the city

On the first day of the two-day nationwide strike called by various trade unions, over 75% buses belonging to the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) stayed off roads in Coimbatore district on Monday, forcing passengers to depend on private buses.

Officials in the TNSTC Coimbatore Division said that out of a fleet of nearly 2,000 buses, only around 450 town and mofussil buses were operated across the district on the day . The remaining buses were parked at 17 bus depots across the district. However, the trade unions had agreed to operate more buses on Tuesday to ensure that essential activities were not affected.

As there were very few TNSTC buses on the roads, most of the private buses ran jam-packed in Coimbatore. School and college students, and working professionals boarded private buses in large numbers. A city-based private bus operator said that out of the nearly 350 private buses, it was estimated that 117 town buses were operated in the Coimbatore Corporation limits on Monday.

R. Selvam, district president of CITU-affiliated Coimbatore District Auto Drivers’ Union, claimed that out of the nearly 13,500 auto rickshaws in the district, most of the vehicles did not ply on the roads. “A few auto rickshaws were operated for school students,” he said. Karunakaran, an autorickshaw driver, said that most of the auto rickshaws affiliated to mobile taxi aggregator applications were operational by afternoon.

An official from the Department of School Education said that some of the government and private school students were not able to attend school due to the lack of bus services on Monday. However, no school reported large number of absentees, the official said

According to the Coimbatore City Police, over 700 members of various Trade Unions such as LPF, CITU, AITUC and INTUC were removed for staging demonstrations at four locations in the city on Monday and were later released.

In Tiruppur, out of the 560 TNSTC town and mofussil buses only around 60 buses were operated on Monday. The remaining buses were parked in eight depots across the district.