Passengers arriving at Central, Egmore struggle without last-mile connectivity

CHENNAI: Passengers arriving at Central and Egmore railway stations faced a lot of hardships to reach their destination in the absence of bus services and fleecing autorickshaw and taxi drivers on total lockdown.

After declaring the onset of the third COVID-19 wave, the State government has announced various restrictions, including night curfew and complete lockdown, on Sunday to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Due to the complete lockdown, the government has suspended the bus services and Metro Rail services on Sunday while the Southern

Railway operates limited services of suburban trains.

Amal Antony, a resident of Manali said he along with his wife and a kid reached central from Coimbatore on Sunday afternoon but got stuck there for more than an hour due to the unavailability of bus services. “I tried to book auto or taxi through the app but the drivers are cancelling the trip after asking about the destination. One autorickshaw driver asked for double the payment stating that he will not get a passenger on his return journey. Finally, a taxi driver accepted the trip after numerous attempts,” he complained.

Gangadharan, a passenger from

Madurai at Egmore said that the government should have operated a limited bus service from the Central and Egmore stations and Koyambedu for the passengers who took overnight journeys to reach their homes. “Not all the people have their own vehicles to commute. Several families depend on public transport for travel,” he added.

An autorickshaw driver at Central said that the government announced that the public travelling from and to the railway stations could travel by showing their tickets, but the police stopped the autorickshaw drivers going to pick up passengers.