Public transportation nowadays

This is what I have seen in my life growing up in Chennai. During the 80s, PTC was excellent option to travel everywhere even if we had to change multiple buses and took 2-3 hours to go from padi to thiruvanmiyur, for example. My parents had a bicycle which they used to go for shopping or other places nearby. Then they got a little bit of money and we bought our first scooter, and we were proud of it. Everyone in our society bought it. Cars were luxury. Only some big businessmen, bank officers, and government officials had it. Slowly people started becoming affluent and owning a car was not luxury anymore. Now every one have a car or motorcyle to go to office.

When I started working, I took company bus to my office in an SEZ. Nowadays I don't see that many company buses anymore. When company buses were cut off, I tried to go by MTC. It was (1) inconvenient as hell, with the crowd & sweating by the time I reached office, and (2) people in office started talking about why I take MTC, am I not getting paid enough. For (1) alone I started going to office by motorcycle, not much for (2), I still take the bus if possible to go to other places BUT my wife insists on taking auto or booking ola/uber.

Have things changed wrt public transit? Hell No! They went so bad in the years JJ was CM, and their worst condition was when EPS was rubber stamping road constructions for Salem but letting public transit all over TN fall apart, literally. Some relief in the last few years, but it still is not enough. Even the AC buses are insufficient. We cannot prohibit people from owning cars/bikes, but the government can certainly make it easier to take the bus everywhere.

 

What has changed then? Gone are the days of everyone taking buses. Taking buses is now seen as what poor people & lower middle class people do. A college educated white collar worker will now ride a motorcycle or drive their car everywhere. The goalpost has shifted. Now everyone is aiming for 2 cars, with no space to park within their apartment complex, so they take up one lane on the roads outside. 

 

Much of the crowd lives in south Chennai now. Parts that were considered "mofussil" are now prime locations for high-rise apartments. Shouldn't the government increase bus services in those areas? We now have the Metro, and even MRTS which was an abandoned eyesore during MGR period is functional, but people drive more than taking buses, and for obvious reasons. Not enough capacity in public transit.

 

I wish for the return of the days when even a crowded bus in Purasaiwalkam took me places quicker. I wish for the days of taking direct buses to Marina Beach, to Parrys Corner, or to Guindy Park & Elliot's Beach, or Mount Road.