The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Chennai) Ltd. (MTC), is the agency that operates the public bus service in Chennai, India. It is a subsidiary of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation Ltd. As of August 2024 the MTC had a total fleet of 3,376 buses with 3,233 scheduled services, with on average 5.092 Million passengers on an average per day. On March 22, 2016, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways reported that Chennai had the most crowded buses in the country with 1300 passengers per bus in each direction per day. During peak hours, on some routes, a bus with a capacity to accommodate 80 persons carries twice the number of people due to the extensiveness of the system. It has an operating area of . MTC has a total of 668 routes with its largest terminus being Broadway in Central Chennai.
History
Pallavan Transport Corporation & Dr. Ambedkar Transport Corporation The Pallavan Transport Corporation Ltd was established on 1 January 1972 with a fleet strength of 1,029 buses. The operational jurisdiction is the Chennai Metropolitan area. It served 176 routes and had 8 depots, including those at T. Nagar, Adyar, and Vadapalani. Depots at Anna Nagar and K.K. Nagar were established in 1973. The Pallavan Transport Corporation was split into two and a new Corporation, namely, Dr. Ambedkar Transport Corporation Ltd. started functioning from 19 January 1994. The depots in the northern areas of the city were brought under Dr. Ambedkar Transport Corporation Ltd and the southern depots came under Pallavan Transport Corporation. Pallavan Transport Corporation was renamed as Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Madras Division - I) Limited and Dr. Ambedkar Transport Corporation was renamed as Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Madras Division - II) Ltd., on 1 July 1997. In order to make the Corporations viable, and for better administrative control, Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Madras Division II) was amalgamated with Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Madras Division I) Ltd on 10 January 2001.
Present Day As of 2012, the corporation operates 42,961 services daily in 800 routes. The driver strength at MTC is 5,000 as against a required driver strength of 5,800.
In May 2017, the MTC had a scheduled fleet of 3688 buses and total fleet strength of 3968 buses.
2018 Price Hike On 20 January 2018, the MTC introduced a controversial rise in fares with minimum fares for ordinary buses going up from Rs 2 to Rs 5, and maximum fare going up from Rs 12 to Rs 23, the fares were also hiked for other categories of buses with the minimum fare for Express buses becoming Rs 8 and maximum becoming Rs 35 while the minimum fares of Deluxe buses were Rs 12 and maximum fares Rs 48, this was the first such price hike since 2011. This was followed with an increase in the number of deluxe buses (from 900 to 1200) which were the costliest buses. This led to a 30% fall in the number of daily passengers within 3 months. The MTC had projected a 40% rise in daily revenue from Rs 25 million to Rs 40 million but ended up receiving only Rs 28 million in daily revenue i.e. a 12% increase.
+Increase Over the YearsYear19722020Depots833Fleet1,0294,599Scheduled Services8925,099Route209895Employees20,15924,202Passenger/day2.2 million5.8 millionCollection/day₹0.4 million₹26.1 millionOccupancy ratioNA71.42%
Fleet The total size of fleet of the MTC is 3688, of which 3492 buses are operated every day on an average. MTC operates over 5000 services daily covering about 830 routes. The last time buses were added to the fleet was in January 2020.
Per RTO rules, an MTC bus could accommodate a maximum of 83 passengers, including 48 sitting and 27 standing. However, buses carry over 160 passengers in some routes, especially during peak hours, with many travelling on the footboard of the bus resulting in several accidents. According to Union Transport Ministry of India on March 22, 2016, Chennai was reported to have the most crowded buses in the country with 1300 passengers per bus per day per direction. This is due to the extensive routes the buses ply to and also the cost which is reasonably less than some of the major cities in the country. An exclusive and efficient BRTS on dedicated elevated roads is being proposed by MTC as well as the Tamil Nadu Government in order to improve the share of public transport. For a city like Chennai, ideally more than 60% of the people should be using public transport systems. However, owing to its vehicle density which is the second highest in the country, only 40% of the citizenry use public transport which is quite low.
Normal buses These buses in the MTC fleet were manufactured by Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors. These buses were launched in the 1990s and some continue to ply while the majority have been replaced in favor of newer buses.
Semi-Low floor buses The semi-low floored and deluxe buses have improved passenger amenities like improved lighting, plastic moulded seats and driver operated pneumatic, doors into its fleet. The first set of such buses from Ashok Leyland were introduced in February 2007. The newer range of these semi-low floor buses supplied under JNNURM are BS-III compliant and have LED displays. Some continue to ply while most of them are replaced by newer buses
Vestibule services MTC also runs articulated buses provided by Ashok Leyland in congested routes. The fares are similar to those of ordinary services. These buses have 2 conductors, plastic moulded seats and LED boards. Around the end of 2017, some of these buses are condemned and no longer in service.
Air-conditioned buses MTC earlier operated low-floor Volvo B7RLE air-conditioned buses on selected routes. There were 100 of these buses running on select routes at regular intervals when they were introduced. They stopped operating in 2018 owing to poor and higher cost of maintenance, and replaced in favor of newer Ashok Leyland electric buses.
Small buses MTC has launched small-bus services to connect remote places of Chennai and its suburbs. These buses are provided by Tata.
Low-Floor busses These buses in the MTC fleet were introduced to improve accessibility for all passengers, especially the elderly and disabled. Manufactured by Ashok Leyland, they feature pneumatic doors, low entry steps, and LED route displays. Currently there are about 611 low floor busses running in Chennai. Similarly electric low-floor busses have also been procured by MTC.
+MTC Fleet Over the YearsYearNo. of buses on roadNo. of buses off-roadTotal2007–20082,3442872,6312008–20092,7923703,1622009–20102,9583273,2852010–20113,0073553,3622011–20123,0343743,4082012–20133,0273563,3832016–20173,7971673,9642017–20184,09118242732018–20195,0921945286
Services
Ordinary Pink City Service: It is a non-AC bus service with 2+2 bench type non-reclining seater seats built on single-axle Ashok Leyland chassis with a brown-cream livery with front and back sides in pink. Female passengers can travel for free on these buses. Ordinary City Service: It is a non-AC bus service with 2+2 bench type non-reclining seater seats built on single-axle Tata chassis with a brown-cream livery. Mini Bus Service: It is a non-AC mini bus service with 2+2 bench type non-reclining seater seats built on single-axle Ashok Leyland chassis with a grey livery. It was launched to connect remote places, suburbs and also act as a feeder service. Deluxe City Service: It is a non-AC bus service with 2+2 non-reclining seater seats built on single-axle Ashok Leyland or Tata chassis with lesser stops and a red livery. Deluxe City AC Service: It is an AC bus service with 2+2 non-reclining seater seats built on single-axle Ashok Leyland or Tata chassis with lesser stops and a new red-grey livery.
Depots The Metropolitan Transport Corporation had 33 depots in 2020, each with an average parking capacity of 200 buses. In 2023, the new Kilambakkam depot opened as part of the Kilambakkam Bus Terminus. The Anna Nagar East and Semmencheri depots are planned for inauguration in June – July 2025. In Phase - 1, five bus depots (Vyasarpadi, Perumbakkam, Poonamallee, Central Depot and Tondiarpet - 1) are being upgraded to electric bus depots on a PPP model. The Poonamallee diesel bus depot is temporarily operating from CMBT's 5th and 6th platforms. Once Kuthambakkam Bus Terminus opens, operations will shift there. Thiruvottriyur depot is currently closed for upgrades and parallel bus terminus construction, with operations transferred to Anna Nagar East depot. In Phase - 2, the Central - 2 and Alandur depots have been upgraded to EV bus depots and officially operational. This brings the total count to 35 depots, though daily operations are dynamically managed across locations
The 35 depots of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (as of 2026) are listed below: +DepotDepot codeOld codeRegionFleet strengthScheduled servicesAdambakkamABNILT.Nagar7672AdyarADBAdyar196188Anna Nagar (East)AENILAyanavaram3634Alandur (EV)ALKChromepet5151Ambattur EstateAMEAnna Nagar160148Anna Nagar (West)ANHAnna Nagar201191AvadiAVXAnna Nagar178168AyanavaramAYCAyanavaram120113Basin BridgeBBNILAyanavaram8478Central Depot - I (EV)CDNILAyanavaram8075Central Depot - II (EV)CENILAyanavaram2424Chromepet - ICRWChromepet150142Chromepet - IICWNILChromepet9584EnnoreENKTondiarpet8884IyyappanthangalIYYVadapalani143135Kannagi NagarKANILAdyar4341KilambakkamKBNILChromepet123117K.K.NagarKNGT.Nagar198184KundrathurKUNILVadapalani3836Mandaveli/Foreshore EstateMNJAdyar6965MadhavaramMVFTondiarpet156148Perumbakkam (EV) PENILAdyar131125PadiyanallurPLNILTondiarpet113109Koyambedu (Temporary)PMNILVadapalani173164Poonamallee (EV)PNV, ZVadapalani131115Perambur PRSAyanavaram132125SemmencheriSMNILAdyar4139SaidapetSPMT.Nagar10196TambaramTAOChromepet202193Tondiarpet - I (EV)TDATondiarpet3640T.NagarTNLT.Nagar7268Thiruvanmiyur/Besant NagarTRRAdyar126113ThiruvottriyurTVNTondiarpetTondiarpet - IITWTTondiarpet138130VadapalaniVPDVadapalani178168Vyasarpadi (EV)VYPAnna Nagar136130Total3,9443,718
Routes
Revenue As of 2012, MTC's advertisement revenue per month is 86 lakhs. About 2,000 of the MTC's 3,400 buses have been maintained by companies that advertise on the buses since December 2011, but the advertisement space was open for all to bid. In 2012, MTC decided to allow only those companies that take up the cleaning assignment. Still they will have to pay the market rate for the space, while they will get paid for the cleaning. As of 2012, the corporation pays 18 per bus per cleaner every day.
As of 17 Apr 2013 The total revenue per day of all the buses is 2.75 cr
Occupancy The MTC buses have an occupancy ratio (average number of passengers to total seating capacity in a bus) of 84.35%. Each MTC bus can carry 72 people, including 24 standing passengers. The occupancy ratio in Chennai is amongst the highest for the 38 transport corporations in the country.
Connectivity with MRTS and airport The MTC services are not integrated with the Mass Rapid Transit System. Some of the MRTS stations are located away from bus stops which makes transfers difficult. Recently mini-buses have started to ply as a feeder to plug the gaps in connectivity. There are buses to various parts of the city from the airport and some air passengers and many airport employees, use the service. The bus stop is close to the international terminal.
Accidents The accident rate of MTC is high compared to similar metropolitan transport corporations in the country. In Chennai, 104 people died in 2012 in accidents involving MTC buses. The driver unions are blamed for violations going unpunished and continuing unabated.
+People killed in accidents involving MTC busesYear20072008200920102011201220132016201720182019Fatal14214513813211210498943524120
+Accidents over the yearsYearFatalNon-fatal20091093842010106351201111243620121033512013622152016612142017355162018244012019120432