Commute

When Chief Minister M K Stalin flagged off Chennai's first batch of low-floor electric buses in June 2025, the programme was presented as a major step towards cleaner and more modern public transport. The first phase alone involves acquring 625 electric buses at a reported cost of ₹697 crore. The fleet includes 400 non-air-conditioned and 225 air-conditioned buses and is being operated from five depots: Vyasarpadi, Perumbakkam, Central, Tondiarpet-I and Poonamallee. The investment is substantial. Chennai has not inducted a fleet of this size in years. The buses are low-floor, wheelchair accessible and equipped with passenger information systems, CCTV cameras…

Stepping off the Thirumangalam metro at 6.45 pm, the train ride seemed effortless. It was cool, fast, and on time, taking just fifteen minutes from the office. Now comes the hard part. Standing at the station exit, finding a ride home is a struggle, as I switch between three apps to book an auto. The metro feeder bus only runs every 40 minutes and has just left. By the time I reach home, the "fast" metro trip has cost an extra half-hour and ₹120 in surge-priced rides, a last-mile problem the metro itself was built to solve. This is the…

Chennai has long had a tradition of public transport usage, with commuters having the choice of the suburban railway network, Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses operating in the city and the Metro Rail for their daily transit. Despite the government introducing new services recently, especially electric buses, private vehicles numbers have soared and bus ridership has gone down considerably. Last mile connectivity issues, poor coverage in certain areas and the inability of the government to encourage residents to use public transport are major impediments. In fact, private vehicles make up 65 per cent of all motorised transport in the Chennai…

Selomi's text arrived at 7 am. "Let's leave by 8.30. The traffic will be brutal otherwise." We both live about 10 kilometres from the government office we had been going to every day for the last two weeks. The nearest metro station is four kilometres from our homes, which means forty minutes to reach it, twenty on the metro, and twenty-five on foot from Vidhana Soudha to the office. An hour and twenty minutes each way, assuming nothing goes wrong. In Bengaluru, something always does. By the end of the second week, we had the routine down. Coffee in a…

Koramangala is one of Bengaluru’s most recognisable neighbourhoods. Originally planned as a suburb, it witnessed a transformation in the 1990s thanks to its connectivity to Electronic City and the IT corridors along Outer Ring Road. This boom drew skilled professionals from across the country, converting Koramangala into a vibrant commercial hub. With its rapid growth, the question of public transport became even more important, not just for residents, but also for the businesses that thrive here. During OpenCity’s Bengaluru Datajam, organised around the theme of public transport, our group focused on Koramangala’s bus connectivity with the rest of the city.…

For the average Chennaiite, the daily commute has become an arduous task of navigating peak-hour congestion, poor footpaths and an unreliable public transport system. Ahead of the Assembly elections on April 23rd, the gap between official promises and the reality on the road continues to widen. Here is what the numbers say: Currently, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) operates a fleet of 4,110 buses and launched 120 low-floor electric buses in 2025. However, experts say the city actually needs 7,000 buses for comfortable travel and better last-mile connectivity. Residents flag overcrowding and long wait times, which force many commuters, especially in…

Nine two-wheeler riders die every hour in India. In 2024 alone, more than 4 lakh road accidents were reported. Nearly 1.7 lakh people lost their lives in these crashes. While Indian roads aren't the best, Dimpu Chindappa also attributes accidents to driver behaviour. Dimpu is an engineer who was building roads and now she own a driving school in Bengaluru, "Drivonaut". Drivonaut is a unique driving school which prioritises road safety and prepares drivers to prevent accidents. While most driving classes cut through the system to get their students the driving license, Drivonaut ensures that they are fully prepared for…

43-year-old Saridha from Hongasandra works as housekeeping staff at an apartment complex in HSR Layout, an affluent area in southern Bengaluru. There was a time when her work commute meant a one-hour, 3-km walk from her house to the apartment. And then the same way back after a tiring day's work. Till she came to know of the HSR Feeder bus.  Now, she can take a BMTC bus from her place to Bommanahalli. It's a short 400 metres from there to the Mangammanpalya stop, where she takes the feeder bus, which drops her off right next to where she works.…

TMN Deepak, a professor of social work who has a physical disability, commutes from Velachery to Loyola College in Chennai for work every day. He owns a wheelchair cum scooter that allows him to cover short distances comfortably, but he avoids public transport. “Instead, I have had to go for an automatic car, which has increased my overall spend, and I had to shell out an additional ₹2.5 lakh for modifications,” he says. Deepak's monthly petrol costs exceed ₹6,000. “I prefer not to use the bus because of inaccessibility,” he explains, highlighting how the lack of accessible public transport forces…

As commercial development along Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) has surged, reliable public transport has become essential. Yet, daily commuters, labourers, office workers, college and school students, and Resident Welfare Association (RWA) staff continue to grapple with limited access to Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses. For many, reaching bus stops on the main road is a daunting task, especially since interior localities remain underserved and private operators like share autos rarely venture into these areas. The absence of adequate bus stops and the restricted MTC service forces residents into long, difficult journeys. The worst-affected by this lack of last-mile connectivity are…