When horse carts ruled Madras roads

When horse carts ruled Madras roads

For the younger generations, horse rides will spark fun memories at Chennai’s beaches. But horse-driven carts were once the primary mode of transportation for generations in Madras.

Horse-driven carts or jatkas used to be lined up outside railway stations and served as last-mile connectivity for people from railway stations to towns. They were more sought-after in the suburbs, where public buses were a rarity back then.

The Hindu reports published in April 1966, said the police had then imposed a ceiling on the number of jatkas that could be operated. A maximum of 450 horse carts were allowed to ply on Madras roads.

Long-time city residents like Panduranga Raju, 88, recollect travelling in horse carts between Avadi-Poonamallee and Poonamallee to Karayanchavadi through single-lane roads flanked by fields in the 1960s.

Some horse carts transported people and goods near St. Thomas Mount railway station and Adambakkam railway station until the late 2000s.

T. Sadagopan of Pattabiram recalled his college days when horse carts were the main mode of transport between Thiruninravur and Tiruvallur railway stations and temples, as there were no bus services . “We had 10 families that piled into jatkas for trips in Thiruninravur even during the 1970s and 1980s. I paid ₹5 to travel from the railway station to town. The shortage of horse feed or hay, changes in road surface, and speed breakers have all led to vanishing trade in suburbs,” he said.

P. Palani, who belongs to a family that drove horse cart trips for three generations in Poonamallee, said, “I accompanied my father for horse cart trips during the 1950s and early 1960s. We used to take up to eight people in carts from Poonamallee to Tiruvallur temple and make short trips between the railway station and Tiruvallur. The charge used to be one anna to four anna, depending on the distance.”