The Transport department will operate nearly 22,000 buses for the Pongal festival to be celebrated on January 14. The buses along with specials would be operated from January 10 to 13 and in the return direction to the city from January 15 to 19. 

Transport Minister S.S. Sivasankar chaired a coordination meeting with various stakeholders of the eight State transport undertakings, City Traffic Police, Transport and Road Safety Commissionerate and others at the Secretariat on Monday for operating the buses. Mr. Sivasankar after the coordination meeting speaking to presspersons said the regular and special buses for the Pongal festival would be operated from three bus termini including Kilambakkam, Koyambedu, Madhavaram. 

The Transport Minister said a total of 13,536 regular buses along with special buses would be operated from the city to various parts of the State for four days. While daily 2,092 buses would be operated, special buses totalling 5,736 would be operated for four days. Similarly 7,800 buses would be operated within other parts of the State. 

In the Kilambakkam bus terminus, for passengers bound for Puducherry, Cuddalore, Chidambaram, Madurai, Thoothukudi, Thirunelveli, Salem and Coimbatore, buses plying through Kumbakonam and Thanjavur would be operated from the mofussil bus stand and for buses proceeding to Vandavasi, Polur and Thiruvannamalai, passengers would have to board at the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bus stand. 

For passengers bound for destinations on the ECR, Kancheepuram, Vellore and Bengaluru, the buses would be operated from the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus in Koyambedu and for destinations bound for Andhra Pradesh the buses would be operated from Madhavaram. Also buses destined to Tiruchi, Salem, Kumbakonam and Tiruvannamalai, buses would be operated from Madhavaram bus terminus. 

Similarly for the passengers returning to the city, the Transport department has made arrangements for operating a total of 12,216 buses, including 5,290 special buses, to the city and throughout the State a total of 22,676 buses. The Transport department to help passengers book tickets would be opening a total of nine counters of which seven counters would be operational in Kilambakkam and two in Koyambedu. Also the Transport department advises passengers to book the bus tickets through online portal at www.tnstic.in and the TNSTC official app on the mobile phones. 

The passengers in case of any queries and complaints could contact the mobile phone 9445014436 which would be functioning round-the-clock and also toll free number 18004256151.