fare hike - in OMR Chennai - Toll Plazas

In the sizzling summer of Chennai, life is on fastlane, especially if you are to travel on  the IT Corridor aka OMR (Rajiv Gandhi Salai). Recently railway fares were hiked and there is expectation that there cold be further hikes of many in the forthcoming budget…. this is on one more hike, which perhaps either goes unnoticed or has not impacted people at all.

The winding  Old Mahabalipuram Road (Rajiv Gandhi Salai)  starts near the Kasturibai Nagar Railway station -  the Madhya Kailash temple in Adyar in South Chennai – winds it way till Mahabalipuram – being the earliest route – it carries the name ‘Old Mahabalipuram Road’ – this is State highway-49A. From Madhya Kailash,  it is designated ‘toll road’ and you have toll booth near Thuraipakkam (DB Jain College) as also in other places from where one enters OMR.  The corridor where some madly race in the jostling traffic alongside big plush buses; PTC buses; private vehicles; share autos and so many two wheelers (sadly one see / hears of nasty accidents frequently) – there are people changing lanes suddenly, riding on wrong lane, sudden turns unmindful of vehicles coming behind; big buses turning at will; people jumping over the median ….and more..

The corridor, an ambitious six-lane project with service lanes and landscaping, came in to being around 2005 – the 1st phase being  20.1 km from Madhya Kailash junction  to Siruseri — it is ever expanding and already struggling to find space for the ever increasing no. of users.  The IT Corridor Project, was an initiative of Government of Tamil Nadu to develop the Corridor as a world-class facility and to promote a progressive and IT/ITES friendly image of Tamil Nadu. The project is maintained by  TNRDC (Tamil Nadu Road Development Company). TNRDC floated a wholly-owned special purpose subsidiary viz., IT Expressway Ltd (ITEL) for domiciling the IT Corridor Project.

Fare hike is generally responded with lot of noise. … there is going to be hike in Toll rates in OMR effective 1^st July 2014 – the hike may not impact you much and hence people most likely would not comment on that at all.  While daily travellers may not even think of it, there is some change in monthly pass rates. The 10 per cent fare hike on the road is a once in two years increase stipulated by the government, according to Tamil Nadu Road Development Corporation officials. The current revised fares will be in effect till 2016. Though it may not impact individuals, there could be financial impact as thousands of vehicles use this road – of which private cars seem to outnumber all other vehicles put together.

As one would know – all tickets and passes(excluding Monthly Trip Pass) are vehicle specific and not transferable. In case of overloaded or over-sized vehicles, toll fee is charged at the rate of 200 percent of the applicable rates.  The monthly trip pass is also applicable in fact only for 60 single trips from 1^st of the month to the last day of the month…. One trip would mean -  One Entry and Exit at any one of other Four plazas (other than originating plaza). If 60 trips are exhausted before the month end, the user will have to pay again for each trip.  Here is a table showing the existing, revised rates and the difference….

Rate from 1st July 2012
Cagtegory	One way	Return	Daily	Monthly
3 Wheeler	7	12	20	200
Car/Jeep	20	38	65	1550
LCV	34	60	90	2100
Bus	54	100	150	3450
Truck	80	140	220	5100
MAV	160	290	440	10300
Rates from 1st July 2014
Cagtegory	One way	Return	Daily	Monthly
3 Wheeler	8	15	25	250
Car/Jeep	22	40	70	1700
LCV	37	70	100	2300
Bus	59	110	170	3800
Truck	88	160	250	5600
MAV	176	320	500	11300
Difference
Cagtegory	One way	Return	Daily	Monthly
3 Wheeler	1	3	5	50
Car/Jeep	2	2	5	150
LCV	3	10	10	200
Bus	5	10	20	350
Truck	8	20	30	500
MAV	16	30	60	1000

Hope this is useful in some way

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

27^th June 2014.