The Tamil Nadu Government will spend nearly Rs 540 crore in procuring 3,000 new buses for the State Transport Corporation. It plans to replace in phases those old buses, which are either six-years-old or have run 7 lakh km.

As a first step, the State Chief Minister, Ms J. Jayalalithaa today flagged off 464 new buses, which will join the corporation’s fleet. This includes 75 refurbished buses. These new buses will ply within the state and also to various cities in the southern states.

Every day, the corporation’s 20,861 buses carry 2.1 crore passengers across the state. In Chennai alone, nearly 55 lakh passengers use the state-run buses every day, says a State Government press release.

>raja@thehindu.co.in

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