[sustran] Free bus pass in TN for elders takes off

Vinay Baindur yanivbin at gmail.com
Sun Feb 21 02:24:45 JST 2016


http://newstodaynet.com/chennai/free-bus-pass-elders-takes



Free bus pass for elders takes off
Saturday, 20 February 2016
NT Bureau
------------------------------
Chennai: It took just two days, after Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa
announced the free bus rides scheme for senior citizens, for it to take
off. The Chief Minister inaugurated the scheme today by issuing tokens to
five senior citizens.

State Industries and Transport Minister P Thangamani, Chief Secretary K
Gnanadesikan, Government Advisor Sheela Balakrishnan, Additional Chief
Secretary (in-charge), C V Shankar, and Metropolitan Transport Corporation
Managing Director M Balakrishnaswamy were present during the inauguration
of the scheme today.

Ever since the announcement in the Assembly on Thursday, bus depots in the
city have been buzzing with activity. While forms are given out in the
depots, they can also be downloaded online.

Old people are taking the effort to access technology to download the
application forms for bus passes either by themselves or seeking the help
of gen-next.

The Metro Transport Corporation’s (MTC’s) website www.mtcbus.org failed to
load this morning for some time, as many people were trying to access it.

For the lucky ones with good Internet speed, the Senior Citizens - Free
Buspass option on the left bottom of the MTC site can be made use of to
download the form.

The details that are required are name, age, gender, address and age proof.
The age proof can be any ID like Aadhaar card, voters ID, ration card or
school certificate, as per instructions in the form.

While this scheme benefits old people at large, some of them expressed
their concern over the height of the footboard that makes it difficult for
them to climb into buses. ‘It will be nice if the steps are lowered. They
are a bit high for people like me to use,’ said 78-year-old Ramamani (name
changed) who suffers from knee pain due to old age.

A spokesperson for MTC said, ‘The new buses have footboard with relatively
less height and come with doors. The old models are in the process of being
modifi ed gradually to become low-floor buses. They will be given a
makeover and changed.’
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