Parry’s Corner is one of the earliest localities around which the city started developing with. Today Parry’s Corner is the very hub of activity for the Chennai citizen. Most of the city’s leading commercial enterprises have their head offices here. Innumerable wholesale merchants, dealers and retailers operate from this area, apart from hundreds of hawkers who sell their wares on the platform.

Besides this, Parry’s Corner happens to be the terminus for all the bus services. Most of the urban bus services start from here. Despite the shifting of the Kotwal Market to Koyambedu the place is very highly crowded due to the fact that almost all the suburban services and express buses to outstations operate from here.

Because of the concentration of all the major transport services starting from here, the travelling public, both from and to Chennai have to reach the spot with their bag and baggage and thus add to the congestion that is already there due to the business activity in the area. Most of the times, the Chennai traveller with a reserved ticket in hand, finds it difficult to reach the terminals, even if he or she starts two hours earlier. There are instances when people reach the terminus only to find the bus has already left.

The government has planned to shift express and other outstation bus services to a new bus terminal that is coming up close to Koyambedu, in an effort to decongest the area and to provide the necessary comforts to the passengers.

The new bus terminus is coming up with a very large space of 31 acres, at a cost of Rs.103 crores. The construction activity started in May 1999 and the terminal is nearing completion.

This will have additional facilities and offer more services than the present terminus at Parry’s Corner. It will have a shopping complex, information centre, reservation counters, telephone booths etc. The flooring in the passenger area is of polished granite and Kota stones for parking the buses. The terminus includes a workshop for servicing the buses – a must for the long distance buses. A new road is laid from Nesappakkam to operate these buses and for the passengers reaching the spot in two wheelers, auto-rickshaw and taxi.

There are a total of 180 notice/information boards located at strategic points, a vast hall providing sitting accommodation for 1536 persons, 60 television sets, drinking water taps at 15 points and 60 public telephone booths, in the new terminal.

It has facilities to accommodate 150 bus services, starting at any given point of time; to park 60 buses in addition; and for another 30 to reach and leave the terminal. An estimated 270 buses can be accommodated at any point of time. This is besides the infrastructural requirements like the reservation hall, computer centre, timekeeper’s counters, and a petrol/diesel filling station. The fact that this terminal is supposed to be the largest in Asia would make all Chennai citizens proud.

The Transport Minister Mr Ponmudi who came to supervise the construction activities expressed the hope that the terminal would start its operations, soon. Around 2500 services can be operated per day, from the new terminal. A broad road – of a width of 120 feet – would enable smooth operations.

Let us hope that better times are in sight for the Chennai traveller and the pressure on Parry’s Corner would go down to a very large extent.

Sundaramurthy

translated by Hari Krishnan