Broadway bus terminus in city awaits revamp

Commuters say hawkers occupy a major portion of the terminus while the path to the bus bays is filled with potholes.
| Photo Credit: JOTHI RAMALINGAM B

“There are hawkers occupying a major portion of the bus terminus than the buses. The path to the bus terminus and bus bays are filled with potholes. Worse still, several shops encroach the footpath of the bus bays,” he says.

G. Maniyarasu, a regular commuter from Koyambedu, says the bus terminus becomes slushy even if it merely drizzles, and floods when it pours. Though its three bus bays have shelters, they are of little use to the commuters as hawkers and vagrants occupy them.

Amid the daily churn of buses and commuters, the long-awaited ₹822.70 crore redevelopment of the Broadway Bus Terminus remains only on paper. The redevelopment of the terminus, which is the nodal transport hub for MTC buses, from where hundreds of buses are operated to various destinations, has been hanging in the balance for several years.

While the terminus was proposed to be shifted to a temporary area near the Royapuram railway station, residents said it was not feasible to shift the entire bus fleet to the temporary location, as the Beach Road and Prakasam Road — the two arterial roads through which MTC buses have to ply if shifted— are already facing traffic bottlenecks due to heavy vehicular movement.

According to a senior official of the MTC, the bus terminus belongs to the Chennai Corporation, and when the civic body advises them to vacate the premises, the project will be done.

A retired MTC official said the best option for renovating the facility, without disturbing the bus operations, would be to shift a portion of its bus services to Island Grounds, and rent the vacant land, which is located adjacent to the present bus terminus and belongs to the Pachaiyappas Educational Trust, as a temporary alternative.

Approved in 2024 under the Vada Chennai Valarchi Thittam (North Chennai Development Plan), the project was to transform the ageing hub into a state-of-the-art Multi-Modal Facility Complex — but for now, regular commuters continue to cram into the existing facility.

Funding for the project includes ₹200 crore from Chennai Metro Rail Limited, ₹115 crore from the CMDA, and ₹506 crore from the Tamil Nadu Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation.

Further, a multi-modal transport hub with a nine-storey parking facility and an eight-storey terminal with commercial space was planned, CMDA Minister P.K. Sekarbabu said in November 2024.

Regarding the project’s progress, an official in the CMDA said the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) was yet to hand over the land. “The reasons for that are unknown. Once the land is handed over, works will begin,” he said.

However, a GCC official said no land-related file was received from the CMDA for the purpose. On temporarily shifting the bus terminus to a three-acre plot on Ibrahim Street in the Royapuram Zone (V), the civic official said, “Over 200 vendors have been shifted to the new plot, and the relocation is expected to be done by December 2025.”