PTC Notes - Part 1

I did not expect this post to run to pages, I have made this post as the first of the many parts that may come up in this series!!

My passion to analyse databases traces back the date on which my father taught me the list of letter codes of Pallavan Transport Corporation (PTC) depots and their corresponding depots. While most of the kids of my age were still carrying on the A for Apple and B for Boy lessons, it was A for Tondiarpet and B for Adayar for me. What was learnt religiously from A for Tondiarpet to V for Poonamallee was the base for whatever passion I have developed towards number crunching, databases and statistics. Adding to this passion was the analysis of popular, strange and interesting routes and route numbers of PTC. This post is aimed at documenting those memories, right from my childhood days (that I often refer to as PTC’s golden days) till it was ‘Brindavanized’ i.e. when ‘M’ routes were introduced around 1999 – 2000.


Depots and Fleet Codes:

PTC had(s) fleet number format as follows: 1 (now 2) alpha depot code + series code + series number. Earlier PTC used single digit codes for depots (like A for Tondiarpet) and then switched to two digit codes during mid-2000s (like AD for Adayar). The series initially started as A001 and went till A1000 after which B001 started. This trend went all the way upto I1000, after which the series was extended as I1001 and not J001 due to political reasons. Following a popular Tamil saying, “when rulers change, scenarios change”, J001 series was introduced after halting the I series at around I3400 abruptly.

During a short period of time in the late 90s, PTC was split was PTC (for South Madras) and Dr. Ambedkar Transport Corporation (DATC, for North Madras) based on depot allotments. DATC, for a shortwhile reused the A series for its new fleet buses until this was stopped with a merger back to PTC (as MTC, dropping the specific names for Transport Corporations). The full list of the depot codes (old and new) are given below:

A TD Tondiarpet*
B AD Adayar
C AY Ayanavaram*
D VP Vadapalani
E AM Ambattur*
F MV Madhavaram*
G KN KK Nagar
H AN Annanagar*
J MN Mandaiveli
K AL Alandur #
K EN Ennore*
L TN T. Nagar
M SP Saidapet
N TV Tiruvotriyur*
O TA Tambaram
P BB Basin Bridge*
R TR Tiruvanmiyur
S PR Perambur*
T TW Tondiarpet II (West)*
V PE Poonamallee
W CR Chrompet #
X AV Avadi* #
Y IY Iyyappanthngal #
Z PM Poonamallee* #

Subsequent additions in two digit system:
VY Vyasarpadi
CD Central Depot (was earlier with Thiruvalluvar (TTC))
BB Basin Bridge
AB Adambakkam
BN Besant Nagar
CW Chrompet II (Workshop)
KU Kundrathur
MB Mahakavi Bharathi Nagar
PL Padianallur
SM Semmancheri
KA Kannagi Nagar
PA Perumbakkam

* marked depots were with DATC when it was alive, # were the new ones that got added. K was used by both PTC (for Alandur) and DATC (for Ennore). Poonamallee had two codes, V (for PTC) and Z (for DATC) – buses using Mount route were operated by PTC, typically 54 series and buses using Aminjikarai route were operated by DATC, typically 53 series. The only exception was the 54K from Nemam to Broadway that was taking Mount route but operated by DATC using Z/ PM depot buses. PE was subsequently merged with PM.

Except T. Nagar, Mandaiveli, Alandur and Poonamallee (Z) depots that had Tata buses, all depots had Ashok Leyland buses. 5B, 21, 45B, 36R, 54K were the notable ones that ran exclusively on Tata buses that had a flat gear box and a lower level driver seat with a characteristic ‘Tata bus’ sound while driving (something like a nose with cold).

Number specifics:

The ‘1000’ used to be a fancy number in fleet numbers. B1000 was allotted to Adayar as BB1000, F1000 was allotted to Madhavaram – FF1000 in route 38J Mylapore to Madhavaram, G1000 was allotted to not allotted to KK Nagar though as GG1000 but went to Tambaram as OV1000 (vestibular bus) and interestingly enough, H1000 was allotted to Annanagar as HH1000 and I have spotted it once in 41C LSS Annanagar West to Tiruvanmiyur.

C1000 was to L (T Nagar), D1000 and E1000 were to Tambaram. A1000 in sequence of DATC went to PTC Adayar.

I remember riding a double-decker in 6C from Beach Station to Royapuram to see my then new-born brother in the Hospital. Later these buses were withdrawn from service. They were reintroduced during the late 90’s in route no. 18 Extn between Guindy and Parrys. This service was curtailed as a regular 18 service between Saidapet and Parrys when the work on Guindy ROB was undertaken – remember the typical minarets on either side of the old Guindy bridge with advertisements of VGP on the parapet walls, and those hollow rectangle girders on the Race Course Road side??

The other fleet numbers that I could remember are as follows:

BF787 in 2R from Adayar to Kaviarasu Kannadasan Nagar, which was an SSS service without a stop at Nandanam – I boarded once in a hurry while going to school, with a bus pass valid only till Nandanam… I got down at SIET crossed the road and incidentally got a fully crowded 12C to go to Nandanam Extension, with luckily no Ticket Checkers around to catch me.

MF40 and MF440 are the most famous buses in 45A route, known for their eternally full-to-the-brim crowd because of which the bus itself will be titling towards the left side even when running empty!

Information courtesy Krishnan sir: JE773 that appears in the famous song in the movie Sathya, is a Ford bus!

The Quadruple termini:

As with any big city, the principal operating termini were centered on George Town area. But Madras, being known as a ‘City of Magnificent Distances’, had a well-served Mofussil service catering to the periphery of the city. There were three big termini near Beach station – Parry’s Corner (more fondly referred to in Tamil as Paarimunai), Broadway and High Court. A few buses used to start from MUC, near the Esplanade. Buses were usually of two types – local/ city buses that used Parrys (upto 47) and Mofussil buses (48 and above) that used Broadway. High Court and MUC used to handle a bunch of North-Madras-bound spill overs from these two. With TTC and other long distance buses moving away to CMBT Koyambedu, their share of the Broadway terminus was ceded to PTC and all buses that used to terminate at Parrys were shifted to this new terminus sometime around 2000s. Madras was fortunate to have a strong route system that criss-crossed almost all the arteries of the city.

Types of Services:

Madras bus routes had a good numbering system – all variants of a given route number follow a similar route pattern or serve an identified area. For example, all 23 series local buses (23, 23A, 23B, 23C) serve the Egmore – Adayar combination. All 54 series Mofussil buses serve in and around Poonamallee via Mount route. Ofcourse, this is being used as an overdose now-a-days with crazy numbering systems.

Buses ran as ‘ordinary’ (‘whiteboard’ with black font) services with a single rate card, with increments in ‘stages’. Each stage was usually 4 stops around 2 km. The earliest lowest fare I remember is 50p, then the stages were 60p, 75p, 90p, 1.00, 1.10, 1.20, 1.35 and 1.50. Getting a bus ticket for Rs. 1.50 means you are going somewhere outside the city into a remote mofussil area! Later during late 80s, the ‘Yellowboard’ with black font Limited Stop Services (LSS) and Selected Stop Services (SSS) were introduced. These were launched as faster services with lower number of stops enroute offering faster means to reach the destination – these were really a boon for long distance travelers, although they had to cough 20p more. These services usually stopped only at important stops and stage stops. LSS had V as suffix (like 18V from Broadway to Vandalur Zoo) and SSS had J as suffix (like 51J from Broadway to Tambaram via Mount). Rumours say that these initials refer to names of some political leaders. As a factoid, 18 (GST Road belt) and 70 (Inner Ring Road belt) series buses had a V* variant and 70 series was the only route that had VVV variant (70VVV from Guindy to Pattabiram, now running as B70).

Madras had ‘cut’ services that had a diagonal cross line across the route number indicating it will not run the full distance (usually returning to depots during lunch/ crew change) and ‘extension’ (Extn) services that used to serve certain remote areas – like 88C Broadway to Kundrathur had a few 88C Extn services to Kundrathur Murugan Koil.

When the Government changed in 1989, they replaced all Vs and Js with a prefix pattern of A, B, C etc. Sample given below:

18V – A18
18J – B18
18VV – C18
18V* – D18

There was another crazy system that was introduced during this period when all whiteboards were classified as ‘A’ buses and ‘B’ buses. They used to have a small board in front that declared the ‘type’ of the bus. Stage stops were classified as ‘AB’, where both ‘A’ buses and ‘B’ buses stopped and all other intermediate stops were classified as either ‘A’ stop or as ‘B’ stop. As example:

Saidapet – AB stop (stage)
Todhunter Nagar – B stop
Muniyappillai Chathram – A stop
Housing Board Nandanam – AB stop (stage)
Defence Quarters – B stop

I used to take whiteboard buses from Defence Quarters while coming back from school, this system brought down the number of eligible buses by half! It used to be frustrating to see an empty 18B ‘A’ bus going right in front of your eyes while there will be a sizeable crowd waiting in a ‘B’ stop. This caused significant disruption to areas/ roads that were served by only one service like the legendary 5E. Another pain is where one wants to go from Defence Quarters to Chathram, he had to take a ‘B’ bus to Housing Board and then another ‘A’ bus to Chathram – imagine if that person got the same route, say, 23C for both the legs – it was double the fare. Thankfully, better sense prevailed and this system was abolished soon after it was introduced.

Again in 1991, when the Government changed, route numbers were religiously brought back to the suffix system, this time as J and R instead of V and J. Rumours say that these letters indicate names of political leaders – who knows! So,

A18 became 18J
B18 – 18JJ
C18 – 18R
D18 – 18RR
E18 – J18
F18 – R18
G18 – JJ18

More prominently, there were a lot of new routes with suffix and prefix as JJ were introduced/ renamed.

1991 – 96 also saw the advent of Blueboard ‘Point-to-Point’ (PP) services. I strongly believe the intent was originally to introduce ‘Duronto’ type buses, but they were no different from the Yellowboards, except having a 1.5x fare structure (Yellowboards were having one stage extra structure).

Madras used to have a few older ‘Greenboard’ Express (Exp) buses – they were rare and were running to cater a specific crowd that can pay more. One such route that I remember seeing daily was the 41 Exp from Annanagar to Mandaiveli. Express buses do not allow any ‘passes’ (School pass, Monthly Season etc.), whereas they were allowed in LSS/ SSS and PP buses.

The other famous service of Madras is the ‘Roseboard’ buses – Ladies and Children Oly that ran on specific routes catering to colleges and schools (like 12G, 18K, 5E, 5B etc.).

As the random reader might have expected, this J&R system was overturned when the Government changed again in 1996, bring back Js and Rs to the ABC prefix system, that is still in vogue now. This regime also introduced two small 15-seater tempo-traveller type buses as shuttle services between Airport and Central/ Egmore.

Madras used to have cute little mini buses, almost half the size of a regular bus, that served peripheral areas that did not have that much access to the main road network and did not have population to fill an entire bus. These used to have prefix as ‘M’ and their numbers did not correspond to the standard numbering pattern. For example, M28 from T. Nagar to Porur did not have any connection with the 28 series buses that used to serve Egmore – Tiruvotriyur belt. I remember three such ‘M’ routes:

M9 T. Nagar to Andal Nagar, now running as M9M T. Nagar to AGS Colony
M26 Pozhichalur to Hasthinapuram, now replaced by M52 Extn
M28 T. Nagar to Porur, now replaced by M54.

These buses were replaced with regular buses after these areas developed over a period of time. But a different need was identified around early 2000s when the suburbs were developing very fast – hence the two airport service buses, which happened to be a dismal failure, were put into use for a trial operation as M1 (since they were mini buses in shape) between Velachery and Tiruvanmiyur via SRP Tools. This came with a badge of flat Rs. 3 fare + no passes and turned out to be a good success, although the fare was higher than the minimum of Rs. 2. This success was the base for introducing many such ‘M’ services albeit with a regular bus and a higher fare in core routes. Some of them I remember are:

M5 Mylapore – PTC Quarters
M6 Saidapet – Velachery
M7 T. Nagar – Tiruvanmiyur via SRP

Slowly this ‘M’ virus which turned out to be a milking cow, was beaten to death. For example, 54H that used to be a popular service between Saidapet and Poonamallee was extended in both directions as T. Nagar to Vellavedu with just one or two ordinary services during odd hours doing this job and all other services were made as M54H between Saidapet and Poonamallee, charging a minimum of Rs. 3. The best part of this strategy was that these fake M services ran with a whiteboard!! I since got to know that these were intended to be ‘Metro’ services and not ‘Minibus’ services, when one of my friends checked this through an RTI query.

The 2011 Government took a call to rationalize all these services and struck off the ‘M’ incidentally making M9 as 9M. However, the regular users have got so much used to their M9 that they demanded restoring the service as M9 only – this resulted in a funny M9M service running as of date! M49 also has a similar story – 49 originally ran between T. Nagar and Poonamallee via Ashok Nagar and Vadapalani. This was augumented by a 49V between Tiruvanmiyur and Poonamallee. 49V, along with 47V was one of the first routes to get the red-cream-red livery buses (featured in Oorvasi song of Kadhalan). 49V was finally converted as 49A running ultimately between T. Nagar and Iyyappanthangal. 49 was removed from service. In the meantime, an M49 route was introduced between Tiruvanmiyur and Iyyappanthangal via Guindy partially taking the old 49V route. This route, when de-M-ed, dropped the M and became 49!!

As of end-2013, the original ‘Mini’ buses came back in a different avatar of ‘Small Bus’es with the same rationale of serving peripheral areas. Apparently, a good majority of these routes have been a roaring success soon after they were launched.